News

TMG completes in-market testing of EMV debit

The company has partnered with pilot clients across the US to issue and successfully test EMV debit cards in real-world merchant environments.

August 27, 2015

The Members Group has become one of the first group service providers in the nation to issue and complete live testing with EMV chip debit cards. A press release from TMG said that the payments processor began testing the U.S. common application identifier in April and has partnered with pilot clients nationally to issue EMV chip debit cards and successfully execute in-market transactions with them.

According to the release, TMG expects that more than 30 percent of its clients will complete the transition to chip cards by the end of the year. Currently, more than 60 percent of the company's clients are certified to issue EMV chip debit cards on the First Data debit processing platform.

On the credit side, nearly 98 percent of TMG issuer clients have completed or initiated EMV migration. While the credit migration was rolled out in waves, debit migration will take a more customized path, the company said.

"Every client's setup is unique," said Chole Casber, TMG product manager and debit EMV migration team leader. "That's why we are taking a per-client, custom approach. This will ensure each issuer is given a roadmap appropriate for their vendors, including core processors and PIN networks."

According to the release, 95 percent of TMG clients have chosen to provide their cardholders with dual-interface chip cards, which support both contact and contactless transactions, and the company expects the same will be true for clients' debit portfolios.