News

U.S. companies on EMV technology: 'Meh.'

March 29, 2012

It seems American companies are still a bit blasé about EMV. Aureimma Consulting Group and Savantor (also a consultancy) today announced the results of their informal survey of senior officers at U.S. banks, retailers and payment organizations to find out how they feel about EMV. In short, they feel ambivalent, the consultants found.

Visa, MasterCard, and Discover hope to coax along EMV migration in the States with recently enacted measures and deadlines. In response, some merchants are installing EMV-compatible POS terminals and some banks are now issuing chip cards — to frequent travelers only. Still, many executives whose business processes would be affected by a shift to EMV remain diffident about the technology.

Among the study's findings:

• Everyone believes migration to EMV chip in the U.S. is now inevitable, but few expect it to happen before mandated deadlines.
• Many do not regard EMV chip as a high-priority, long-term strategic issue.
• Respondents believe that chip and signature verification will be deployed, rather than chip and PIN.
• Mobile NFC and other emerging payments models increase uncertainty about EMV.
• Large retailers are the main drivers of EMV migration, with many other stakeholders adopting a “wait and see” attitude.
• There is a lack of central coordination and leadership.

Savantor and ACG have released a white paper detailing the findings of their research. The paper is available for free PDF download at savantor.com/auriemma-savantor-whitepaper.asp. 

For more on this topic, visit our EMV research center.