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It's official: MasterCard and Visa will share EMV debit solutions

August 1, 2013

You can check the "plays well with others" box on next quarter's report cards. MasterCard and Visa have announced an agreement to license their common U.S. debit solutions to each other in order to facilitate multiple-network routing capability for U.S. PIN debit transactions, as required by Congress.

The U.S. card giants will share certain proprietary EMV chip technologies with one another and with other networks. As a result, issuers will be able to load their global brand's application onto their cards — either Visa or MasterCard — and merchants will be able to route a debit chip transaction originating from a single chip application to Visa, MasterCard or any other U.S. PIN debit network that chooses to adopt the solutions.

"By providing every U.S. debit network with an efficient, market-ready answer, we are delivering a proven solution that not only preserves merchant routing choice, but ensures seamless interoperability with all other EMV programs across the globe," said Chris McWilton, MasterCard president for North America. 

This approach is consistent with EMV Migration Forum recommendations for a single common debit application identifier and single application on each card. The solutions offered by Visa and MasterCard will significantly reduce the complexities of the U.S. EMV implementation.

"This approach offers issuers, acquirers and merchants a streamlined solution for debit chip card routing, helps ensure a cost-effective migration, and enables even broader adoption of secure, convenient chip debit programs in the United States," said Elizabeth Buse, global executive for solutions at Visa Inc. "Importantly, this solution allows merchants and acquirers to deploy payment terminals using existing chip technologies that are already widely integrated into existing chip card acceptance solutions."

Read more about EMV.