PRINCETON JUNCTION, N.J., March 5, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Formed in August 2012 to help the payments ecosystem in the United States move to a new way to pay with EMV chip cards, the EMV Migration Forum has advanced significantly in a short period of time. Following its third meeting in February Salt Lake City, the Forum announced its newly-elected steering committee, membership growth, and progress of its four Working Committees.
The EMV Migration Forum, an independent cross-industry organization, was formed to address issues that require broad cooperation and coordination across the payments space in order to successfully introduce secure EMV contact and contactless technology in the United States. Forum membership has already grown to more than 120 member companies from the entire payments industry, including global payment brands, financial institutions, merchants, processors, acquirers, regional debit networks, industry suppliers and industry associations.
"The EMV Migration Forum has really hit the ground running in the first six months of operation," said Randy Vanderhoof, acting director of the EMV Migration Forum. "From our membership growth to the energy our members are putting into the Working Committees, the Forum is already making large strides in advancing education, coordination, and cooperation around the U.S. migration to EMV-enabled cards, devices, and terminals."
Elected Steering Committee
The Forum is managed by an elected, cross-industry steering committee made up of representatives of all key constituents involved in the U.S. EMV migration. Forum membership elected the Steering Committee in January to lead the organization's efforts in 2013/2014:
- Acquirers/Processors
-- Sarah Hartman, TSYS
-- Patty Walters, Vantiv
- Global Payment Networks
-- Carolyn Balfany, MasterCard
-- Karen Czack, American Express
-- Simon Hurry, Visa Inc.
-- Ellie Smith, Discover Financial Services
- Industry Suppliers
-- Dan Heimann, ACI Worldwide
-- Nick Pisarev, Giesecke & Devrient
- Issuers
-- Jesse Lee, Wells Fargo
-- Andrew Paur, Woodforest National Bank
-- Matthew Connelly, Chase
-- Whitney Stewart, SunTrust
- Merchants
-- Kristy Cook, Target
-- Chris Coward, Publix Super Markets
-- John Drechny, Walmart
-- Laura Ermer, McDonald's U.S.A.
- Regional Debit Networks
-- Nancy Loomis, STAR/First Data
-- Robert Woodbury, FIS/NYCE
- General Members
-- Mansour Karimzadeh, SCIL/EMV Academy
-- Robin Trickel, Heartland Payment Systems
Working Committee Progress
A lengthy portion of the February meeting was devoted to the progress of the four EMV Migration Forum Working Committees: Communications and Education; Debit; U.S. Coordination; and Certification and Testing.
"More than two-thirds of our member organizations are participating in the Committees, and represent a broad cross-section of the industry," added Vanderhoof. "These Committees will be integral in carrying out the work and vision of the Forum."
-- Debit and EMV Working Committee. Led by co-chairs Emily Santos of SunTrust and Oliver Manahan of MasterCard, the Committee is serving as the forum to address the question of chip debit routing in the U.S.
-- Communication and Education Working Committee. This Committee is led by co-chairs Diane Jackson of CPI Card Group and Mansour Karimzadeh of SCIL. The Committee just released its first publication - "The Standardization of Terminology," which defines common chip, EMV, and EMV migration terms for use in educational and marketing communications. The Committee has other projects in progress, including an EMV stakeholder survey report.
-- U.S. Coordination Working Committee. Led by co-chairs Mark Rennie Davis of MasterCard, Jan McGrath of Discover Financial Services and Dan Jovanovic, City National Bank, this Committee is currently exploring ways of generating efficient and consistent operations and messaging across the industry.
-- Certification and Testing Working Committee. This committee, led by chair Randy Burnette of VeriFone, is currently working on three projects focusing on what the current payments certification and testing requirements are in the U.S., how these requirements will change with chip-enabled EMV payments, and what certification and re-certification processes look like with EMV.
EMV Migration Forum meetings are for member organizations and industry associations representing groups of stakeholder members only. The next Forum meeting is scheduled for March 21-22, 2013 in Atlanta, GA. 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 in a face-to-face card-present environment; provides global interoperability; and enables safer and smarter transactions across cards and contactless channels. American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa have all announced their plans for supporting an EMV-based payments infrastructure in the U.S., with acquirer processor readiness mandates to support chip data in place for 2013, and liability shifts for managing fraud risk in a face-to-face environment 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 introduction of 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.
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