EMV - Perfect Timing: US Migration to EMV Chip Technology

Perfect Timing: US Migration to EMV Chip Technology

Find out why the US is finally ready to join the rest of the world and implement EMV into it's borders.

Click here to download a free copy of The Migration to EMV Chip Technology by Gemalto white paper.

Most of the world has fully migrated or is in the process of migrating to EMV chip technology for debit and credit payments. According to EMVCo, approximately 1.2 billion EMV cards have been issued globally and 18.7 million POS devices accept EMV cards as of Q1 2011. This represents 40.1 percent of the total payment cards in circulation and 71 percent of the POS devices installed globally [EMVCO2011].

Given the prevalence of EMV chip technology in the rest of the world, many have questioned if and when the United States would move to EMV. U.S. financial institutions started issuing EMV chip cards to their frequently traveling customers; however the country seemed to be a long way off from acceptance [Gemalto2011]. All of this changed on August 9, 2011 when Visa announced plans to speed up chip migration and adoption of mobile payments in the United States. Visa announced a three-part acceleration plan [Visa2011]:

Expand the Technology Innovation Program to Merchants in the U.S.
Build Processing Infrastructure for Chip Acceptance
Establish a Counterfeit Fraud Liability Shift

With this announcement from Visa, the United States payments landscape is no longer a future of magnetic stripe technology, but one of EMV chip technology and contactless and mobile payments. This paper will examine why the timing is good for EMV in the United States, and will discuss implementation and cost considerations for merchants and issuers.

Click here to download a free copy of The Migration to EMV Chip Technology by Gemalto white paper.