News

EMV used in 30 percent of transactions worldwide, data reveals

In Europe Zone 1, 96 percent of transactions were EMV-enabled; in the US, 0.03 percent were, EMVCo says.

November 4, 2014

Figures released by EMVCo show that nearly 30 percent of all card-present transactions conducted globally between July 2013 and June 2014 used EMV chip technology.

The data represents all EMV chip card-present transactions — both contact and contactless — as processed by EMVCo members American Express, Discover, JCB, MasterCard, UnionPay and Visa. To qualify as an EMV chip transaction, both card and terminal must be EMV chip-enabled.

Europe Zone 1 had the highest percentage of EMV chip transactions, accounting for more than 96 percent of card-present payments. Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean followed, at collectively more than 83 percent; Africa and the Middle East recorded EMV chip transaction volume of nearly 76 percent.

Europe Zone 2 and Asia are in the process of adopting EMV chip technology and had transaction volumes of more than 50 percent and 19 percent respectively. In the United States, 0.03 percent of transactions were EMV chip-based.

EMVCo Executive Committee Chair Tac Watanabe remarked on the data:

It recently became possible for all six members of EMVCo to gather EMV chip transaction-level data, which accurately reflects card-present payments as they are occurring in the marketplace. ... [T]his showcases real-world usage of the technology and offers a metric to track actual EMV chip activity. It is the first time we have collated and published transaction volumes and EMVCo plans to ensure these new statistics are available to the payments community on a bi-annual basis.

The published figures reflect an average of transaction data and span 12 months to take into consideration seasonal variations. Data reflects authorization traffic and is reported from the acquirer perspective.

The figures do not include offline transactions, transactions handled exclusively by another processor, or transactions processed by non-EMVCo members, such as local payment schemes. Complete data is available at the EMVCo website.