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US Payments Spring Market Snapshot Explores Continued Path To EMV

PRINCETON JUNCTION, NJ -- The U.S. Payments Forum has released its spring 2018 market snapshot , providing updates on the status of the U.S. EMV chip migration and contactless payments, insights from a member survey, and recently released resources for the payments industry. Visa stated that 96% of Visa payment volume at the point-of-sale is made using chip-enabled cards and 59% of U.S. point-of-sale locations accept chip, an impressive 578% growth since its October 2015 liability shift. Additionally, th...

May 3, 2018

PRINCETON JUNCTION, NJ -- The U.S. Payments Forum has released its spring 2018 market snapshot, providing updates on the status of the U.S. EMV chip migration and contactless payments, insights from a member survey, and recently released resources for the payments industry.

Visa stated that 96% of Visa payment volume at the point-of-sale is made using chip-enabled cards and 59% of U.S. point-of-sale locations accept chip, an impressive 578% growth since its October 2015 liability shift. Additionally, there has been a 70% decline in counterfeit card fraud for chip-enabled merchants.

According to the ATM Industry Association, 91% of U.S. ATMs are now EMV-capable; and 86% are accepting chip-on-chip transactions. This represents significant improvement from an estimated 19% at the beginning of 2016 and 58% at the beginning of 2017.

As in-store and ATM chip enablement continues 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.

Experts concurred that 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 the fourth quarter of 2017, 799,667 unique merchant locations are contactless-enabled, and there has been 80% growth in contactless transactions year-over-year.

But there is work to do to make the infrastructure ubiquitous across the U.S. Through a survey of its members, the U.S. Payments Forum has identified faster payments fraud as the top areas to explore in 2018.

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 its focus on new and emerging payment technologies, including a website to provide education on contactless payments for issuers, retailers and restaurant staff and customers.

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.