PRINCETON JUNCTION, N.J., Jan. 30, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The U.S. Payments Forum today released its winter 2017 market snapshot, providing updates on the status of the U.S. EMV chip migration, 2017 priorities for accelerating merchant chip enablement and securing the card-not-present channel, and recently-released resources for the payments industry. The U.S. Payments Forum, a cross-industry body focused on deployment of new and emerging payments technologies in the U.S., has been the source for EMV implementation guidance since the start of the migration in 2012, and recently expanded its scope to support the introduction and implementation of additional new and emerging payment technologies.
State of the Market: EMV Chip Migration
There has been steady progress in the U.S. migration to chip payments. Today, 9 out of 10 Americansi are commonly using chip cards at the approximately one-third of U.S. merchant locationsii enabled to accept chip payments, and an estimated 79 percent of ATMs will have completed the migration by the end of this yeariii. In 2017, the U.S. Payments Forum will continue to address issues that arise from those parts of the ecosystem that have implemented EMV, and provide education and implementation guidance to merchant segments that have unique and/or challenging migration paths.
“The volume of chip-on-chip transactions has been growing at a steady rate, but we need to accelerate merchant enablement to reach critical mass and meet the goal of the chip migration: removing in-store counterfeit card fraud, the largest source of fraud in the U.S., from the system,” said Randy Vanderhoof, director of the U.S. Payments Forum. “To help the industry meet this goal, the Forum is prioritizing outreach and educational programs for the ATM, petroleum, transit and hospitality industries, as well as the mid-size merchant community.”
Trending Topics: EMV in the Petroleum Environment
At the end of last year, American Express, Discover, Mastercard and Visa individually announced modified timelines for their respective EMV fraud liability shift policies for automated fuel dispensers in the U.S. The petroleum industry policy changes that were slated to take effect in October 2017 were modified to take effect in October 2020.
“The unique challenges facing the retail petroleum industry in upgrading their outside pay-at-the-pump systems to EMV have been an active part of the EMV migration discussions over the last year within the U.S. Payments Forum and its Petroleum Working Committee,” said Vanderhoof. “After the policy modifications were announced late last year, there were some misconceptions they may cause the petroleum industry to delay their migration plans. But what we’re really seeing is that the petroleum industry understands that they need to ‘put the pedal to the metal’ and use this extra time to complete the hardware and software upgrades at the pump to make sure their outdoor environments are enabled to accept chip as quickly as possible to avoid fraud risk.”
The U.S. Payments Forum and its Petroleum Working Committee will continue to help the petroleum industry move forward with its chip migration by identifying and resolving challenges associated with implementation and conducting educational outreach programs, including to payment technology providers servicing the industry.
U.S. Payments Forum Priorities: Addressing the Card-Not-Present Environment, Mobile Payments
In addition to aiding the chip migration to reduce in-store counterfeit card fraud, the U.S. Payments Forum is prioritizing the importance of addressing fraud in the card-not-present (CNP) environment in online and mobile channels. The Forum’s Card-Not-Present Fraud Working Committee and Mobile and Contactless Working Committee are launching projects to provide best practices and educational resources on how to help secure these channels.
“The industry has shown a high level of focus and urgency towards securing the in-person payment channel with EMV chip payments, and it is absolutely critical that the payments industry continue to simultaneously devote the same level of energy to work to avoid fraud increasing in the card-not-present channel,” said Vanderhoof. “With our expanded focus and unique mix of payments stakeholders, the U.S. Payments Forum is in the position to provide the actionable implementation guidance that the industry needs to create successful multilayer fraud reduction programs and close off these channels to fraudsters.”
In addition, the Forum is launching projects to address the challenges with implementing mobile payments, taking an inclusive cross-industry view to address issues that impact multiple stakeholders.
Resource Recap
Over the last quarter, the U.S. Payments Forum and its members have provided a number of resources on EMV implementation guidance and optimization approaches for the industry. These resources include:
- “Implementing EMV at the ATM” workshop series. The Forum has hosted a number of workshops to provide implementation guidance to independent ATM providers, small banks, credit unions, and merchant deployers preparing to implement EMV chip card technology at the ATM in the U.S. The next workshop will be held on February 14, 2017 at 1pm ET during the ATMIA U.S. Conference at the Sapphire Falls Resort, Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.
- EMV testing and certification. The Forum updated the “EMV Testing and Certification White Paper: Current Global Payment Network Requirements for the U.S. Acquiring Community,” including updates from the global payment networks and addition of an appendix discussing Faster EMV (i.e., Quick Chip, M/Chip Fast) implications for testing and certification.
The Forum also launched the Mobile and Contactless Payments Working Committee to explore opportunities and challenges, identify possible approaches, and develop practical implementation guidance and best practices for the variety mobile and contactless payments solutions being implemented in the U.S.
Stakeholders across the payments industry that are interested in having a more active voice in the U.S. migration to EMV chip technology and other emerging payments technologies should visit http://www.emv-connection.com/us-payments-forum/ to learn more about membership, attending quarterly Forum meetings and participating in working committees.
Find additional U.S. Payments Forum resources at www.emv-connection.com, and follow the Forum on Twitter @USPaymentsForum.
To read the fall 2016 market snapshot, visit http://www.emv-connection.com/us-payments-forum-market-snapshot-status-and-priorities-of-us-emv-chip-card-migration/.
About the U.S. Payments Forum
The U.S. Payments Forum, formerly the EMV Migration Forum, is a cross-industry body focused on supporting the introduction and implementation of new and emerging technologies that protect the security of, and enhance opportunities for payment transactions within the U.S. The Forum is the only non-profit organization whose membership includes the whole payments ecosystem, ensuring that all stakeholders have the opportunity to coordinate, cooperate on, and have a voice in the future of the U.S. payments industry.
i According to Mastercard, nine-in-ten Americans commonly use chip cards, a 38 percentage point increase year-over-year, from 49 percent in 2015 to 87 percent in 2016
ii Strawhecker Group estimates that 29 percent of U.S. merchants are currently able to accept chip-based transactions
iii ATMIA estimates that 58 percent of the industry will have completed migration by the end of 2016, and 79 percent will be complete by the end of 2017