Princeton Junction, N.J., May 3, 2018 – The U.S. Payments Forum today released its spring 2018 market snapshot, providing updates on the status of the U.S. EMV chip migration and contactless payments, Forum priorities put into focus through a member survey, and recently-released resources for the payments industry.
State of the Market: EMV Chip Continues to Spread Throughout the U.S.
In an encouraging report, Visa stated that 96 percent of Visa payment volume at the point-of-sale is made using chip-enabled cards; 59 percent of U.S. point-of-sale locations accept chip, an impressive 578 percent growth since its October 2015 liability shift; and there has been a 70 percent decline in counterfeit card fraud for chip-enabled merchants[i].
According to the ATM Industry Association, 91 percent of U.S. ATMs are now EMV-capable; and 86 percent are accepting chip-on-chip transactions. This represents significant improvement from an estimated 19 percent at the beginning of 2016 and 58 percent at the beginning of 2017[ii].
As in-store and ATM chip enablement continue on a positive trend, the industry is focusing on streamlining existing implementations to improve the customer experience and overall efficiency. Another focus is on the future of the chip migration for industry segments with special considerations, like pay-at-the-window and pay-at-the-pump.
At the Secure Technology Alliance Payments Summit and U.S. Payments Forum All-Member Meeting joint event, a panel of retailers discussed these considerations. Speakers highlighted EMV acceptance issues for drive-thru merchants, and inclement weather, heavy-traffic seasons and a limited number of certified technicians as some of the unique challenges for implementing chip technology at the fuel pump.
Trending Topics: Considering Contactless EMV as a Next Step
The upward trajectory of the U.S. rollout of contact EMV chip technology has set the stage for a possible next step: contactless EMV payments, including cards and mobile devices.
According to data available from Mastercard, the foundation for contactless payments is already in place. As of Q4 2017, 799,667 unique merchant locations are contactless-enabled, and there has been an 80 percent growth in contactless transactions year-over-year. But there is work to do to make the infrastructure ubiquitous across the U.S.[iii]
“Contactless payments have been a key discussion point for the U.S. Payments Forum, from whom the technology benefits and why implement contactless to when we’ll get there and how,” said Randy Vanderhoof, director of the U.S. Payments Forum. “One of the biggest conversations we’re having now is the need for cross-industry participation to provide education and implementation guidance for issuance and acceptance – all things the Forum has provided for the migration to EMV chip.”
Forum Priorities
Through a survey of its members, the U.S. Payments Forum has identified several topics that are top-of-mind for the payments industry, and plans to explore the need for education and guidance in these areas:
Fraud topics. Members identified card-not-present, card-present, person-to-person and faster payments fraud topics as the top areas to explore in 2018.
Payment technology innovations. Contactless, mobile browser and in-app payments were the technology innovations of greatest interest across all stakeholder members. Other topics included IoT payments, biometrics and 3DS.
The U.S. Payments Forum also has several projects in process that emphasize the Forum’s trajectory and focus on new and emerging payment technologies, including:
- An educational website to provide targeted education on contactless payments for issuers, retailers and restaurant staff and customers
- Guidelines for accepting contactless transactions at the ATM
- A white paper to educate stakeholders on signature requirements in the U.S., including how they’re used, recent changes in requirements and implications of chargebacks and fallback
- A transit payments 101 webinar to provide a high-level overview and implementation guidance for transit requirements surrounding open payments
- Transit contactless open payments use cases on aggregated fares and mobile devices with pay-as-you-go fares to add to the technical framework solution being discussed
- A white paper on EMV fleet card processing requirements
- A resource to discuss lessons learned regarding tokenization implementation
- A technical white paper on accepting Canadian cards at U.S. merchants
- An educational resource on use case cases for wallet identifiers for mobile payments
- And multiple projects relating to card-not-present fraud, including a white paper detailing the true cost of fraud and a paper on fraud prevention pathways
Resource Recap
Over the last quarter, the U.S. Payments Forum has published the following resources on EMV and contactless payments implementation and optimization guidance:
- “Merchant and Issuer Error Data Collection Forms” resource. These tools assist merchants, issuers and their partners in gathering information to determine the source of any chip transaction errors
- “Mobile and Contactless Payments Requirements and Interactions” white paper. This resource discusses how mobile and contactless payments requirements are collected from payments ecosystem stakeholders
- “Mobile and Digital Wallets: U.S. Landscape and Strategic Considerations for Merchants and Financial Institutions” white paper. This document provides guidance to merchants and financial institutions on models, technologies and usage drivers for mobile and digital wallets
- “Contactless Resources: Implementation Considerations and Clarifications” resource. This document provides a summary of recently-published resources that provide guidance when implementing contactless payments in the U.S.
Find additional U.S. Payments Forum publications at www.uspaymentsforum.org and a complete collection of documents, videos, webinars, infographics, and EMV resources at www.emv-connection.com, and follow the Forum on Twitter @USPaymentsForum.
To read the winter 2018 market snapshot, visit https://www.uspaymentsforum.org/us-payments-forum-winter-2018-market-snapshot-emv-enablement-growth-in-new-markets-predictions-for-contactless-payments-in-transit-prioritizing-online-transaction-security/.
About the U.S. Payments Forum
The U.S. Payments Forum is a cross-industry body focused on supporting the introduction and implementation of new and emerging technologies that protect the security of, and enhance opportunities for payment transactions within the U.S. The Forum is the only non-profit organization whose membership includes the whole payments ecosystem, ensuring that all stakeholders have the opportunity to coordinate, cooperate on, and have a voice in the future of the U.S. payments industry.
Contact
Adrian Loth
Montner Tech PR
203-226-9290
[email protected]
[i] Visa Chip Card Update, December 2017 – https://usa.visa.com/visa-everywhere/security/visa-chip-card-stats.html
[ii] ATMIA 2018 EMV Migration Survey – https://www.atmia.com/news/new-atmia-emv-survey-reveals-86-migration-rate-for-us/5674/
[iii] Mastercard Contactless U.S. Performance Summary, January 2018