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Study: ATM operators making progress (slowly) on EMV migration

A new ATMIA survey and report show that ATM operators are getting there, but it's taking longer than they had expected.

March 29, 2016

The ATM Industry Association has released the results of its "2016 ATM Channel EMV Readiness" survey, the third in a series. According to a press release, the survey revealed that operators are making progress on EMV implementation, but not as quickly as they had anticipated.

When ATMIA conducted its second annual survey 14 months ago, 88 percent of survey respondents said they expected to have at least some ATMs ready to accept EMV transactions by the end of 2015.

However, implementation of EMV ultimately fell well short of these expectations. By year end, slightly less than half (48 percent) of all operators had at least some EMV-capable machines.

What's more, of those who did have EMV capability in place actually had the functionality turned off at all of their chip-capable ATMs. The likely cause was a combination of routing issues, higher chargeback rates, and continuing uncertainty and confusion, the release said.

"There were growing indications late last year that any sense of urgency for deploying EMV capabilities as soon as the terminals were ready was quickly eroding," said ATMIA U.S. executive director, David Tente. "We speculated that ATM operators were continuing to upgrade and replace their equipment at a strong pace, but might be waiting as long as possible to turn on that functionality. That seems to be the case, particularly for small and midsize operators — both financial institutions and independents."

The survey does show that deployers have made significant progress on EMV upgrades over the past 14 months. A full 90 percent of ATM operators said that they have begun purchasing upgrade components and replacement ATMs.

Further, 51 percent of operators said that they have now upgraded more than half of their fleet — nearly double the number from a year ago, the release said.

ATMIA members may request a copy of the full report — including complete survey results and analysis. An executive summaryof the report — including highlights and major conclusions — is available to nonmembers.The ATM Industry Association has released the results of its "2016 ATM Channel EMV Readiness" survey, the third in a series. According to a press release, the survey revealed that operators are making progress on EMV implementation, but not at they pace they had anticipated.

When ATMIA conducted its second annual survey 14 months ago, 88 percent of survey respondents said they expected to have at least some ATMs ready to accept EMV transactions by the end of 2015.

However, implementation of EMV ultimately fell well short of these expectations. By year end, slightly less than half (48 percent) of all operators had at least some EMV-capable machines.

What's more, of those who did have EMV capability in place actually had the functionality turned off at all of their chip-capable ATMs. The likely cause was a combination of routing issues, higher chargeback rates, and continuing uncertainty and confusion, the release said.

"There were growing indications late last year that any sense of urgency for deploying EMV capabilities as soon as the terminals were ready was quickly eroding," said ATMIA U.S. executive director, David Tente. "We speculated that ATM operators were continuing to upgrade and replace their equipment at a strong pace, but might be waiting as long as possible to turn on that functionality. That seems to be the case, particularly for small and midsize operators — both financial institutions and independents."

The survey does show that deployers have made significant progress on EMV upgrades over the past 14 months. A full 90 percent of ATM operators said that they have begun purchasing upgrade components and replacement ATMs.

Further, 51 percent of operators said that they have now upgraded more than half of their fleet — nearly double the number from a year ago, the release said.

ATMIA members may request a copy of the full report — including survey results and analysis. An executive summary of the report's highlights and major conclusions is available to nonmembers.

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ATM Industry Association (ATMIA)

The ATM Industry Association, founded in 1997, is a global non-profit trade association with over 10,500 members in 65 countries. The membership base covers the full range of this worldwide industry comprising over 2.2 million installed ATMs.

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