The Green Sheet Online Edition
February 2, 2025 • 25:02:01
Payment Account Reference numbers explained
I previously wrote about the benefits of EMV tokens in "EMV network tokens," published by The Green Sheet in October 2022 (see www.greensheet.com/emagazine.php?article_id=7087. EMV tokens are underutilized.
Visa provides a 10-basis point reduction in interchange when EMV tokens are used. They are more secure and provide a higher authorization rate than proprietary tokens. EMV tokens also provide for greater flexibility, as they may be ported to without any conversion fee.
A better way
Another available benefit is the Payment Account Reference number or PAR. PARs are similarly underutilized and can assist processors link card numbers and tokens with a unique customer.
This is a powerful tool, especially with the increase in mobile purchases, which often move card-present transactions to tokenized transactions, and the underlying card is not known. PARs may also be leveraged for Apple Pay and Google Pay ecommerce purchases where the card credentials are auto filled.
PARs may not be used for financial transactions. A PAR has a one-to-one relationship with a specific account number, but a PAR may have a relationship with many tokens. This may cause confusion if the issuer assigns the same card number to cardholder 1 and cardholder 2, but that issue persists regardless of whether a PAR is leveraged.
In the context of EMV tokens, a PAR is sent in the authorization response messages and may be passed to merchants who may use and store the data. The PAR will move with the new card number when the account number is replaced due to a lost or stolen card. This is extremely powerful, as all the associated tokens will continue to be associated with the PAR as well.
Unfortunately, if the issuer does not notify the token vault of the newly issued card, the PAR will not associate with the new card number.
Onions have layers
A PAR may be accessed directly at the point of sale from the card as well. In this context, the PAR is available before the authorization request. The use cases for this are enormous, including facilitating returns when a purchase was made online and the return is facilitated in-store.
Regardless of the use case, a PAR may also be used to track or administer loyalty programs and provide a more complete picture of a cardholder’s use. Because the PAR value ties back to an individual account number, the PAR may also be used for investigating fraudulent activity because it provides a complete picture of cardholder activities.
Loyalty programs were historically associated with the card account number. With the tokenization of cards, this method is not feasible. Other solutions rely on a customer’s phone number, which requires the pairing with an account as well as customer action when used with a token. PAR use is the evolutionary solution to ineloquent and dated practices.
Because a PAR is personal data, customers should opt in before it is leveraged for loyalty programs and tracking. Regardless, a PAR can provide a complete picture of a customer's activity, and with the rise of tokenized transactions, is a better way to track the universe of a customer’s transactions.
Further, PARs are outside of PCI scope, so you can leverage them without impacting your PCI compliance.
POS solutions should incorporate PARs and their benefits to better serve merchants and their clients. Doing so will leverage an existing and powerful tool with little additional work. 
As founder of Humboldt Merchant Services, co-founder of Eureka Payments, and a former executive for such payments innovators as WePay, a division of JPMorgan Chase, Ken Musante has experience in all aspects of successful ISO building. He currently provides consulting services and expert witness testimony as founder of Napa Payments and Consulting, www.napapaymentsandconsulting.com. Contact him at kenm@napapaymentsandconsulting.com, 707-601-7656 or www.linkedin.com/in/ken-musante-us.
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