ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.—The U.S. migration to EMV is showing solid progress since the Oct. 1 liability shift deadline, report payments experts—one of whom indicates merchants could be doing more to speed the changeover.
Credit unions, banks and payment processors have worked diligently and spent millions of dollars making sure new EMV technology is in the hands of consumers prior to the Oct. 1 liability shift deadline, explained Dean Young, SVP of industry engagement at PSCU.
“The merchant community, on the other hand, could be doing more. It has been dragging its feet, spending time lobbying the government to mandate PIN transactions, which will lower interchange costs,” said Young.
According to several reports, around 50% of merchant terminals nationally were EMV capable by Oct. 1. The National Retail Federation has been lobbying for chip and PIN and arguing that chip and signature is “fraud-prone.”
Chip And Signature
Out of the gate, chip and signature is the predominant method to approve chip card purchases. Also, attorneys general in nine states have sent a letter to the nation’s card associations and top issuers calling on them to require PINs rather than signatures.
“In order to truly mitigate payment card fraud, all players in the payment process cycle need to come together,” said Young.
Progress toward EMV conversion at PSCU credit unions has been good, said Young, noting that as of the liability shift deadline, PSCU CUs have reissued 50% of their active credit cards as EMV enabled.
‘We are seeing a lot of good adoption on the issuer side,” said Young about CU progress before and after Oct. 1. “We have issued more than three million EMV cards. Almost all of our credit unions have either issued EMV cards or are in the process of doing so.”
However, Jamie Topolski, director of alternative payments at Fiserv, Brookfield, Wis., sees both issuers and merchants collaborating and working diligently on EMV.
“I would give a solid B-plus on both sides,” he said. “Everyone is committed to getting this done and getting it done as quickly and efficiently as possible, and to minimize any confusion.”
Long, backed-up checkout lines were reported by merchants in early October, due to the chip card “dip” taking longer than the swipe, and because consumers often pull their chip card out too quickly and have to repeat the process. That situation is expected to worsen during the holiday shopping season.
Consumer Education Increasing
But Topolski thinks consumers are receiving more instruction since Oct. 1, with Fiserv banks and credit unions stepping up their cardholder education.
“We have seen a lot of issuers putting information on their websites, sending cardholders educational materials, and using video to show how the dip is done,” he said. “That is important, letting people see how to use their new cards.”
Overall, Topolski says impetus around EMV is accelerating.
“We are continuing to see progress on all fronts,” said Topolski. “Among the banks and credit unions we work with to the merchants. The majority of financial institutions we work with have either issued EMV or are getting started on their projects. We see someone launch a new project every week.”
Topolski, who participates in the EMV Migration Forum, says merchants are moving, as well.
“I see more merchants rolling out support for EMV,” he said.