Payment Account Reference

Drive loyalty and fraud programs by linking transactions with a single, unique identifier.

Linking transactions across payment-tokens

Payment Account Reference (PAR) was introduced by EMVCo to address two significant challenges: the inability to unify transactions made with the same card across different payment channels and reliance on sensitive card data to identify customers outside of transactions, which increased security risks and expanded PCI scope.

Unique PAR values retrieved in partnership with card networks

PAR values are non-sensitive, 29-character alphanumeric data elements provided by the card networks. These values persist throughout the card life cycle, tying all of a cardholder’s payments across channels back to a single card account. 

By creating a consistent PAR reference value across PSPs and token formats, merchants and platforms can enhance their marketing and loyalty programs, streamline business operations, and control fraud—all outside of PCI scope.

Customer Intelligence

Consumer buying behavior can now be linked and identified across all payment channels for a single card without additional verification or friction points.

Loyalty & Rewards

PAR users gain visibility into buyer behavior across payment channels to tailor loyalty programs and rewards.

Risk & Fraud Scoring

PAR can identify whether a transaction originates from an existing customer without any other inputs. This enhances customer intelligence while controlling for specific types of fraud like multi-account or promotional fraud.

Operational Efficiency

PAR values can save your operational team time by reducing the steps and complexity around customer tracking. It can also replace PCI data in your system if it is used outside of a transaction for purposes such as customer identification.