News

Visa, MasterCard push EMV in Australia

August 6, 2007

Inside Retailing: Visa and MasterCard are preparing multimillion-dollar marketing campaigns to roll out smart cards in Australia. The Europay, MasterCard, Visa standard, which is monitored by EMVCo., sets a baseline for microchip-embedded, so-called "smart" cards, which are deemed more secure than magnetic-stripe cards. A Visa spokesperson said Visa and MasterCard were using a variety of lures, including contributions to marketing campaigns, to encourage major banks to adopt the technology.This month, Westpac Banking Corp. is expected to introduce EMV technology, and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia is expected to announce an EMV rollout when it releases annual results next month.