EMV is a fraud reduction standard for credit & debit payment cards.
Just because the United States is well past the October 1, 2015 liability shift doesn’t mean the Europay, MasterCard and Visa (EMV®) transition is in the bag. EMV is a global fraud reduction standard for credit and debit payment cards based on chip card technology. This technology is used to combat fraud and protect sensitive payment data in card-present environments. Much progress toward EMV adoption has been made, but many businesses have yet to complete the migration. To give you perspective, here are some recent statistics:
- At present, 70% of U.S. credit cardholders have at least one (EMV) chip credit card.[1]
- There are now 180.6 million Visa-branded chip cards in the U.S., according to Visa. This represents one-quarter of Visa’s U.S. card base of approximately 720 million.
- MasterCard says 67% of its U.S.-issued consumer credit cards have chips.[2]
- According to the EMV Migration Forum, there are roughly 5 million EMV-ready terminals at U.S. stores now, but only 1 million have started accepting chip credit cards.[3]
- 22% of U.S. retailers are EMV-ready, while another 53% plan to be within the next 12 months, according to a Boston Retail Partners report.[4]
In short, most consumers have chip credit cards, merchants are purchasing EMV-capable devices; however, as you may have experienced, not all EMV-ready terminals are activated.
EMV Hurdles
As support for EMV chip credit cards ramp up, some obstacles persist. The main challenges include:
- Devices: For some, the cost of upgrading to EMV POS devices can be prohibitive.
- Software: Merchants need to develop software or integrate to third-party software to allow the POS devices to accept EMV transactions.
- Certification: POS devices and the merchant (or their respective software solution) need to certify with each of the card networks. The certification process is complex and certification queues are long, causing significant delays.[5]
Looking Ahead
As this multi-year journey continues, a recent study estimates that consumers will be able to use their EMV credit and debit cards at 50 percent of U.S. merchant locations by June 2016, with 90 percent of merchant locations ready in 2017.[6]
Most U.S. EMV cards issued thus far are ‘contact’ cards, meaning the customer inserts the chip card into the merchants EMV-capable device. Manufacturers expect to see some movement toward dual interface cards in 2016, with more to come over the next few years. Dual interface cards allow for both contact and tap-and-go/contactless transactions.
While large, multi-lane retailers have transitioned to EMV, small- to mid-sized and micro businesses, hotels, and restaurants will continue down the migration path. In addition, fuel pumps have an EMV liability shift in 2017.
Make the Move to EMV with TC IPA™
At TrustCommerce we know firsthand how complex, time consuming and expensive EMV certifications are. That’s why we have launched a new product, TC IPA – Integrated Payment Application. It offers a simpler path to EMV, reducing certification effort and cost.
TC IPA is a set of unique applications that provide merchants with the tools to securely accept both EMV and non-EMV payments. With several configurations and deployment scenarios, TC IPA can integrate with a wide variety of Point of Sale Systems and Services in both web and client-server environments.
In addition to EMV support, TC IPA provides significant PCI benefits. The solution reduces, if not eliminates, the merchant’s main applications from PCI scope as the Primary Account Number (PAN) data will never go through third-party software. Information passed through the client network is encrypted and non-readable. In fact, it’s encrypted twice. First the PAN data is encrypted by the device upon entry or swipe then TC IPA encrypts the message again before sending it through the merchant’s network.
For a faster path to EMV, learn what TC IPA can do for your organization, contact us.