There’s been a lot of buzz in the payments industry about EMV, also known as chip cards.
What is EMV?
EMV is a payment format that has been used for over fifteen years around the world. It will become commonplace in the United States in the next few years. The term EMV is named after the organizations that created the specifications: Europay, Mastercard, and Visa.
The distinguishing feature of EMV is that the card data resides in a chip rather than in a mag stripe, making it a more secure and ‘smart’ form of electronic payment.
Both the card/payment device and the card reader may require chip contact or it may be contactless. If it’s contactless, this means you can wave the chip near the reader and the data will be transferred.
Why is this important to you?
Visa and the other card networks have set a timeline for acceptance of EMV in the United States. NCR is already working on the issue so they’ll be well prepared in advance to meet the April 2013 deadline for supporting acceptance of chip transactions.
What is the most important date?
For our customers, it is October 1, 2015. On that date, Visa’s global Point of Sale counterfeit liability shift will be instituted in the U.S.
What does it mean?
Visa’s liability shift means that the party that is the cause of a chip transaction not occurring – either the issuer or the merchant’s processor – will be held financially liable for any resulting counterfeit fraud losses when a credit card is used. This is strong encouragement for all merchants to accept EMV transactions whenever possible.
If a cardholder has a chip card but the merchant swipes the mag stripe instead, any cardholder fraud will be the responsibility of the processor, who in turn will pass that responsibility on to the merchant – you!
What is being done?
NCR is committed to ensuring that Radiant Payment Services, CounterPoint SQL and Radiant Hardware and Peripherals are in place and ready for certification when this new card arrives. NCR will have plans in place to migrate you to the updated software and to new peripherals to ensure that you can accept EMV cards well before the liability deadline occurs.
Just another way NCR looks out for you.
Talk to you soon. ~Norma