Category Archives: EMV

Chip-and-PIN, or Chip-and-Choice? EMV Liability Shift For PIN Transactions

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With US EMV adoption well under way in the US, merchants are in the next phase of decision making for their EMV environment, for those terminals and solutions that support it. Should I force chip and pin when the issuer supports it, or should I allow chip and choice? It’s a tough decision and the answer is not the same for everyone.

Point-of-Sale (POS) systems vary in both implementation and capability. For example, a salesperson for a popular POS solution I spoke to told me they don’t support chip and pin. He actually said, “Since debit card processing costs are the same either way now with regulated debit, pin doesn’t really matter any more anyway.” Not true.

Consider the implications for a specialty retail environment with higher average value transactions, such as building supply, automotive parts, and electronics.

RETAIL: HIGH VALUE
 FORCED CHIP & PIN CHIP & CHOICE
PROS Maximize profit potential 3 ways: highest security supported to shift counterfeit fraud to issuer; Even with regulated debit, there’s some financial differential for sending transactions via debit network, though vastly decreased. Finally, not all debit is regulated, and costs do vary. Less friction at the point of sale, faster checkout.
CONS While consumers know their debit pins, studies estimate consumers’ knowledge of credit card PINs at 5-10%. What is financial impact if customer cannot recall pin, fallback to signature is not allowed, and customer has no other payment method? Potential losses based on US EMV liability shift rules which require the highest level of security to shift back to issuer; may vary by brand for counterfeit, lost and stolen cards.

As with everything EMV, there are many moving parts to certifications for chip card acceptance. In order to have a choice, the merchants ecosystem from terminal to payment gateway, if applicable, acquirer, etc must all support it, which may be a tall order.

IMPORTANT: This article highlights a few items and does not cover all brand, business type, transaction type, card type, nor reasons for determining liability. Refer to various card brand core manuals or your acquirer for more specific details about EMV and card acceptance rules.

RESOURCES & ARTICLES AROUND THE WEB

To avoid issues with broken outside links over time, please copy the URL’s below into your browser.

https://www.mastercard.us/en-us/about-mastercard/what-we-do/rules.html

Chip & PIN vs. Chip & Signature

Best article for thoroughness. October 2014 http://krebsonsecurity.com/2014/10/chip-pin-vs-chip-signature/

Chip-and-PIN, or Chip-and-Choice?

Worth a look. February 10, 2014, By David Lott, a retail payments risk expert in the Retail Payments Risk Forum at the Atlanta Fed. http://takeonpayments.frbatlanta.org/2014/02/chip-and-pin-or-chip-and-choice.html

Chip & Choice Keeping Security Flexible

From Visa web site today, great illustration on impact of choices in different market segments. https://www.visa.com/chip/clients-partners/issuers/credit-card-chip-technology/chip-and-pin-choices.jsp

Chip-and-PIN vs. ‘chip-and-sig’

Good global overview and stats By Janna Herron · Bankrate.com, August 28, 2013
 http://www.bankrate.com/financing/credit-cards/chip-and-pin-vs-chip-and-sig/#ixzz4ALnE5Ps9
“What’s the difference? What separates the two is how each is authenticated at the register. Chip-and-PIN cards require a personal identification number to be entered to complete a purchase, much like how many debit card transactions are carried out now with magnetic stripe cards.” Read more: http://www.bankrate.com/financing/credit-cards/chip-and-pin-vs-chip-and-sig/#ixzz4ALnUjB9D

Visa Core Rules AND OTHER CARD BRAND RULES

Merchant Alerts & Rules Links

 

 

Mastercard Chip Momentum: Reducing Fraud One Year In

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Chip Cards in Market at 88 Percent as Chip-Active Terminals Reach 33 Percent

September 12, 2016 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time
PURCHASE, N.Y.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–At the one year anniversary of the shift to chip approaches in the U.S., Mastercard today unveiled data confirming the positive impact the technology is having on issuing banks, merchants and consumers. To date, chip adoption continues to grow:

“Payment cards are an essential part of commerce; EMV requires a change to the customer experience as the industry shifts from swipe to chip”

•    As of July 2016, 88 percent of Mastercard U.S. consumer credit cards have chips, representing a 105 percent increase in chip card adoption since the October 1, 2015 liability shift.
•    The company also sees 2 million chip-active merchant locations on its network, a 468 percent increase in chip terminal adoption since October 1, 2015. Two million merchants represent 33 percent of all U.S. merchants.
•    Of the 2 million chip-active merchant locations, 1.3 million are regional and local merchant locations, representing a 159 percent increase since October 1, 2015.
“Since 2012, Mastercard has championed chip technology. We need chip cards in wallets and chip terminals at checkout to continue to drive card fraud out of the U.S. This country is one of the most complex markets in the world so we know things won’t change overnight,” said Craig Vosburg, president of North America for Mastercard. “However, we’re encouraged by the significant progress over the last 11 months. With every additional chip transaction we move closer and closer to our collective goal – moving fraud out of the system.”
Chip Impact on Merchants
The biggest benefit of chip technology is minimizing the cost of fraud caused, in part, by the use of counterfeit cards. Now, the chips in terminals “talk” with the chips on cards creating unique codes for all purchases. The unique codes protect cards from being counterfeited.
Mastercard fraud data shows a 54 percent decrease in counterfeit fraud costs at U.S. retailers who have completed or are close to completing EMV adoption, when comparing April 2016 to April 2015. Demonstrating the power of EMV and the risk of not adopting it, counterfeit fraud costs increased by 77 percent year-over-year among large U.S. merchants who have not yet migrated or have just begun the migration to chip.
“Payment cards are an essential part of commerce; EMV requires a change to the customer experience as the industry shifts from swipe to chip,” said Brian Riley, director, Credit Advisory Service, Mercator Advisory Group. “There is no doubt chip cards will curtail fraud and it is exciting to see enhancements at the point of sale that will propagate usage, reduce friction and accelerate transaction time.”
Mastercard continues to work closely with merchant partners to ease the adoption of chip. Recent initiatives and programs have included: speeding the terminal certification processes from days to hours, while maintaining quality; adding more intelligence on its network to minimize chargeback costs to merchants; and introducing M/Chip Fast, a new application to help speed transactions and shoppers through checkout lines.
U.S. Consumers Prefer Chip
U.S. consumers have also been central to chip card adoption. While there was an initial learning curve on the chip experience, they now also are seeing the benefit of increased chip safety and security.
Chip card use continues to rise in the U.S. according to a recent Mastercard survey of over 1,000 U.S. consumers:
•    Nine-in-ten Americans commonly use chip cards, a 38 percentage point increase year-over-year, from 49 percent in 2015 to 87 percent in 2016.
“As more U.S. cardholders use their Mastercard chip cards, they are learning the benefits of increased safety and security. It’s no small undertaking to change the way people pay for things. The only reason to start this big a task is to make people’s lives better. Chips have the potential to do just that,” said Chiro Aikat, senior vice president of product delivery – EMV, Mastercard.
METHODOLOGY:
Braun Research conducted an online survey in the United States between June 27 and July 15, 2016 among a nationally representative sample of about 1,000 general population consumers, 18 years of age and older. The sample was weighted to be nationally representative of the US population as it relates to age, gender and region, as well as ethnicity/race. At the 95 percent confidence level, the margin of error is about +/- 3.1 percent.
About Mastercard
Mastercard (NYSE: MA), www.mastercard.com, is a technology company in the global payments industry. We operate the world’s fastest payments processing network, connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. Mastercard products and solutions make everyday commerce activities – such as shopping, traveling, running a business and managing finances – easier, more secure and more efficient for everyone. Follow us on Twitter @MastercardNews, join the discussion on the Beyond the Transaction Blog and subscribe for the latest news on the Engagement Bureau.

Visa to Help Accelerate EMV Chip Migration and Support Merchants

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Streamlined certification, financial and technical support to further accelerate EMV chip terminal deployment

Modified chargeback policies will provide near term relief to merchants who are not yet chip-ready

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Jun. 16, 2016– Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) today announced a series of initiatives to help accelerate EMV chip migration for merchants. Visa has streamlined its testing requirements, amended and simplified the terminal certification process, and committed to investing further resources and technical expertise in a manner that can reduce timeframes by as much as 50 percent. Visa is also making policy changes to help limit exposure to counterfeit fraud liability for merchants who are not yet chip-ready.

visa

Chip card technology helps prevent fraud the results from data compromises. (Photo: Business Wire)

While the U.S. migration to chip technology is a significant undertaking, tremendous progress has been made to-date with over 300 million chip cards in market and 1.2 million merchant locations now accepting chip cards. An average of 23,000 new merchant locations become chip-ready each week. Despite the success to date, a migration of this size takes time and hence many merchants still require help to cross the finish line.

Streamlined Implementation

Before a merchant can turn on a new chip terminal, it needs to be tested to ensure it works properly for the merchant and cardholder. Chip technology can be implemented in different ways based on the unique needs of a merchant, and therefore, different merchants need to be tested in different ways. The more complex a merchant’s point of sale environment, the greater the number of tests. However, Visa has streamlined its testing requirements to significantly reduce the complexity, time, and cost of implementation.

By way of example, a national grocery chain recently followed Visa’s streamlined approach and completed development, testing, and certification months ahead of schedule.

Acquirers Can “Self-Certify” Their Solutions

Going a step further, Visa will provide acquirers greater discretion to determine the appropriate level of testing required to ensure a merchant’s solution is ready. Acquirers know their merchants better than anyone, so providing acquirers with the commercial flexibility to self-certify their clients will further reduce certification wait times for solutions that acquirers are confident are ready.

Visa is also exploring a system for acquirers to share certification test results with each other to avoid testing duplication. That is, if a certain merchant configuration (e.g., restaurants with specific hardware and software) is known to consistently work with one acquirer, then other acquirers should be aware of this and take it into consideration as they make their decisions.

Incremental Funding and Resources to Support Migration

Visa will increase its investment to support both acquirers and the value-added resellers (VARs) that develop the software to power chip terminals. Visa funding will be available to help acquirers with any specific resource constraints they may be facing, as well as to help VARs pre-certify their software solutions in a manner that will significantly reduce the subsequent testing at acquirers by up to 80 percent.

In addition, Visa will provide hands-on support to VARs who may need technical information, education, consulting, and training. A dedicated team of Visa experts will be available to provide direct support in the form of webinars and direct one-on-one conversations, as needed.

“Visa recognizes the importance of having the industry help merchants get their chip terminal solutions up and running quickly so that everyone, especially consumers, can benefit from the powerful security protection of chip technology,” said Oliver Jenkyn, Group Executive North America, Visa Inc. “We’ve taken steps to simplify the process as much as possible and help reduce any challenges so merchants can move forward with chip adoption quickly.”

“Vantiv has been relentlessly working to help merchants upgrade their point-of-sale systems to new levels of security with EMV,” said Royal Cole, Group President, Merchant and Financial Institution Services at Vantiv. “To help accelerate this process, we’ve been working with Visa to find comprehensive ways to further streamline the conversion process for the entire ecosystem – from software developer partners to the smallest-sized businesses. We are very encouraged by the new measures and programs that Visa is announcing today, and we hope others will join in instituting similar programs.”

Counterfeit Chargeback Policy Changes

Historically, issuers have been responsible for the full cost of counterfeit fraud that takes place at a merchant. In 2011, to support the migration to EMV chip technology, Visa announced a liability shift that became effective in October 2015. With this change, the cost of counterfeit fraud is the responsibility of the party – either the merchant or the issuer – that has not implemented chip technology. Given that some merchants are still working to get their chip terminals enabled and certified, they may now be bearing the cost of counterfeit fraud originated in their stores. Visa’s actions today seek to alleviate the impact on merchants while they work through the transition.

Visa is modifying its policies to limit the number of fraudulent transactions that issuers can charge back to merchants (and their acquirers). Effective July 22, 2016, Visa will block all U.S. counterfeit fraud chargebacks under $25. These smaller chargebacks generate a great deal of work and expense for merchants and acquirers, with limited financial impact for issuing banks. In addition, effective October 2016, issuers will also be limited to charging back 10 fraudulent counterfeit transactions per account, and will assume liability for all fraudulent transactions on the account thereafter. This reinforces the responsibility issuers already have to detect and act on counterfeit fraud quickly. These blocks will stay in effect until April 2018.

These two changes together will significantly reduce the number chargebacks that merchants are seeing. Following these changes, merchants can expect to see 40 percent fewer counterfeit chargebacks, and a 15 percent reduction in U.S. counterfeit fraud dollars being charged back.

For more information, acquirers and processors should contact their Visa account executive.

About Visa Inc.: Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable electronic payments. We operate one of the world’s most advanced processing networks — VisaNet — that is capable of handling more than 65,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for consumers and assured payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa’s innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: pay now with debit, pay ahead of time with prepaid or pay later with credit products. For more information, visit usa.visa.com/about-visa, visacorporate.tumblr.com and @VisaNews.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160616005425/en/

Source: Visa Inc.

Visa Inc.
Sandra Chu, +1 415-805-4124
sanchu@visa.com
Lea Cademenos, +1 415-805-4271
lcademen@visa.com

Distributor EMV Credit Card Terminals – Profit busters, profit boosters

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Distributors have special needs for retail credit card processing to maximize profits and mitigate risk. Here we identify credit card terminals that are certain fall short on delivering in an EMV environment. The two most critical retail needs are requiring customers to comply with the highest security supported, and supporting level III processing. Additionally, P2PE, encrypting at the terminal head, is important for a security and compliance.

Only cloud payment solutions have the potential to meet the primary distributor retail processing needs.  This precludes all First Data terminals, one of the most popular brands distributed, and similar devices. DISCLAIMER: comments are specifically regarding business to business needs, not all retail industry needs, and are not in any way intended to imply anything negative about the terminals.

The terminals below DO NOT meet the two most critical distributor needs to maximize profits.

verifone vx520 emv terminal

Verifone vx520

Clover Mini by First Data

Clover Mini by First Data

First Data FD35 EMV pin pad terminal

First Data FD35 EMV PinPad, attaches to a variety of FD terminals.

Ingenico iCT250 emv capable countertop terminal.

Ingenico iCT250 emv capable countertop terminal.

magtek mini card swiper

Magtek mini card swiper.

The terminals below have the POTENTIAL meet the two most critical distributor needs to maximize profits. Special certifications and payment gateway logic is required.

ingenico isc250 signature capture terminal

Ingenico isc250 EMV

 

verifone MX915 EMV terminal

Verifone MX915 EMV chip terminal

Fraud liability review for MasterCard, American Express, and Discover (credit and debit)

  • If the card is chip & sign, and the terminal is EMV only, the card issuer is liable
  • If the card is chip & pin, and the terminal is EMV without pin, or pin debit without EMV, the merchant is liable
  • If the card is chip & pin, and the terminal is EMV with pin, the issuer is liable
  • If the terminal supports EMV & pin, but the customer uses chip & sign, the merchant is liable. Acquirers generally support chip and pin bypass to chip and signature. Merchants should only use solutions that require the highest security on every transaction, including prohibiting customer bypass.
  • If the terminal supports EMV & pin, but the customer does chip & sign, the merchant is liable.

Merchants should only use solutions that require the highest security on every transaction, including prohibiting customer bypass.

If you want to enhance your customer experience, make a change that also maximizes profits too.

Christine Speedy, CenPOS global sales and integrated solutions reseller, 954-942-0483. CenPOS is a merchant-centric, end-to-end payments engine that drives enterprise-class solutions for businesses, saving them time and money, while improving their customer engagement. CenPOS? secure, cloud-based solution optimizes acceptance for all payment types across multiple channels without disrupting merchant banking relationships. Keep your processor, upgrade your technology! Quick and easy to implement with no long term contract.