PRINCETON JUNCTION, N.J., Dec. 19, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The EMV Migration Forum has experienced tremendous interest and growth since its formation four months ago, growing to 100 members from the entire payments industry, including global payment brands, financial institutions, merchants, processors, acquirers, regional debit networks, device manufacturers and industry associations. This month, the Forum reported a productive second meeting with more than 200 attendees at Visa's corporate headquarters in Foster City, CA.
The Forum, an independent organization created by the Smart Card Alliance, supports the coordination of the implementation steps required to successfully migrate from magnetic stripe technology to secure EMV contact and contactless technology in the United States.
"The rapid growth of the EMV Migration Forum membership shows that everyone in the payments industry is on the same page regarding the need for cooperation and collaboration to ensure the migration to EMV-enabled cards, devices, and terminals in the United States is successful," said Randy Vanderhoof, acting director of the EMV Migration Forum. "It is remarkable to sit in on Forum meetings and see members of every part of the payments industry have a voice in U.S. EMV migration."
The December meeting included working sessions for attendees to explore in more detail the key challenges that the payments industry faces in moving to EMV. A lengthy portion of the meeting was also devoted to the progress of the four EMV Migration Forum Working Committees: the Debit and EMV Working Committee; the Communication and Education Working Committee; the U.S. Coordination Working Committee; and the Certification and Testing Working Committee. The committees have mostly finalized their objectives and missions and have quickly aligned around initial projects. Each committee meets regularly via teleconferences and web conference calls and used part of the December in-person meeting to communicate their projects and progress to the entire membership base.
Next, the EMV Migration Forum will elect its steering committee to form the governance body that will lead the Forum in the next year. Steering committee elections opened December 14 and will close on January 25, 2013. The Forum has also planned its next meeting, to be held February 4, 2013 at the Smart Card Alliance 2013 Payments Summit. The Summit is the industry's leading forum for smart, secure payment technology, implementation, and markets.
EMV Migration Forum meetings are for member organizations and industry associations representing groups of stakeholder members only. Membership information, member lists, and membership applications are available at http://www.emv-connection.com/membership-information/.
About U.S. EMV Migration
Commonly used globally in place of magnetic stripe, EMV chip technology drastically reduces card fraud resulting from counterfeit, lost and stolen cards; provides global interoperability; and enables safer and smarter transactions across cards, contactless, mobile, and remote payment channels. American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa have all announced their plans for moving to an EMV-based payments infrastructure in the U.S., with payment processor mandates in place for 2013, and major changes for managing fraud risk set for 2015.
About the EMV Migration Forum
The EMV Migration Forum is a cross-industry body focused on supporting an alignment of the EMV implementation steps required for global and regional payment networks, issuers, processors, merchants, and consumers to ensure a successful move from magnetic stripe technology to more secure EMV contact and contactless technology in the United States. The focus of the Forum is to address topics that require some level of industry cooperation and/or coordination to migrate successfully to EMV technology in the United States. For more information on the EMV Migration Forum, please visit http://www.smartcardalliance.org/pages/activities-emv-migration-forum. ;