RESOURCES
The Emergence & Implications of EMV
Marc Castrechini
October 12, 2012
EMV is the global standard for credit and debit cards based on embedded chip card technology developed by Europay, MasterCard and Visa. Recent announcements made by MasterCard and Visa are aimed at accelerating the adoption of EMV technology in the United States. This leaves merchants and payment professionals with questions on how this will affect their businesses. In this white paper, Marc Castrechini, Director of Software Development, provides an overview of EMV, the timing behind the movement, the benefits of EMV, potential migration processes, and discusses what steps merchants and payment professionals will need to take in order to prepare.Download the Whitepaper Today
Mobile Payments and Consumer Security Concerns
Marc Castrechini
August 29, 2012
Security breaches continue to impact American consumers. Whether it’s credit card fraud, the hacking of a major national retailer, or compromised social network passwords, security of personal information is an ongoing concern. It’s estimated that more than 30 percent of Americans have been victims of bankcard fraud in the past five years. Some experts believe that the longer U.S. consumers rely on the antiquated technologies inherent to today’s credit and debit cards; fraud incidence will continue to rise. Some new mobile payment technologies have been proven to be more secure than the magnetic stripe technology used with existing credit and debit cards because they are based on EMV, which is widely used in Europe. However, payment types such as these are just preparing to enter the U.S...
What is EMV?
Marc Castrechini
July 18, 2012
EMV is the global card technology of choice and it’s coming to the U.S. There are an estimated 1.5 billion EMV cards worldwide and 21 million EMV terminals. Coupled with card adoption rates averaging 44.7 percent and terminal adoption rates at 76.4 percent, EMV’s global dominance is uncontested. EMV is defined by EMVCo as, “a global standard for credit and debit payment cards based on chip card technology”. Originated in the early 1990s, EMV stands for Europay, MasterCard, and Visa. Sometimes referred to as Chip and PIN, EMV offers several cardholder verification methods. We expect to see both Chip and PIN and Chip and Signature in the U.S. market by 2013. With EMV, when the card is scanned at the merchant there are two data parts for authorization. The primary account number (PAN...
What is NFC?
Marc Castrechini
July 5, 2012
Industry analysts predict that 50 percent of smartphones will be NFC (near-field communication) enabled by 2015. In that same year, it’s anticipated that NFC-facilitated transactions will reach US$74 billion. Last year, 30 million NFC-enabled handsets, from leading manufacturers including LG, Nokia, Samsung, and SONY shipped worldwide and Apple is rumored to be including NFC in the forthcoming iPhone 5. Without a doubt, NFC is gaining traction as a leading technology in mobile payments. NFC enabled smartphones feature self-contained microchips that facilitate wireless information transmission when in close proximity to a contactless terminal or customer engagement device. Mobile wallet providers, such as Google and ISIS leverage NFC for in-store payment transactions. Only time will tell...