Princeton Junction, N.J., July 20, 2016 – The EMV Migration Forum has been instrumental in the progress of the U.S. migration to EMV chip technology by providing a forum for essential cooperation and coordination across the whole payments ecosystem, including retailers, card issuers, networks, acquirers, processors, technology providers and industry associations. To provide expanded support for the payments ecosystem, the EMV Migration Forum today announced that it will change its name to the U.S. Payments Forum. The U.S. Payments Forum will continue to support the chip migration while also broadening its focus to other new and emerging payments technologies in the U.S.

U.S. Payments Forum Priorities

The U.S. Payments Forum will address a variety of new and emerging payments technologies that protect the security of, and enhance opportunities for, payment transactions within the U.S. In addition to the ongoing migration to chip technology, new topic areas the Forum plans to address will include, but are not limited to, tokenization, card-not-present transactions, point-to-point encryption, and mobile and contactless payments.

“The remarkable progress we’ve seen in the U.S. chip migration to date is a direct result of the commitment and cooperation from the entire payments industry. It’s estimated that half of the cards in the market are chip cards and 1.2 million merchant locations are enabled to accept them,” said Randy Vanderhoof, director of the EMV Migration Forum. “There are also many other payment technologies that require the same breadth of stakeholder engagement, cooperation and coordination for successful implementation in the U.S. The transition of this organization to the U.S. Payments Forum provides an opportunity to capitalize on the strong, existing organization that the networks, issuers, merchants, processors, and industry suppliers already know and trust, allowing the entire industry to come together to ensure successful implementation of these new technologies.”

The U.S. Payments Forum activities will include:

• Continued support of the chip migration, especially supporting those segments that have not completed their implementation, or are working out further challenges related to their implementations
• Providing best practices and actionable guidance on technical issues, consumer awareness and other non-proprietary issues relating to industry-wide adoption and implementation of new payments technologies
• Facilitating the potential coordination of process-related elements of the payments infrastructure that impact multiple stakeholders
• Engaging in projects to facilitate consumer adoption and allow for a more consistent consumer experience
• Providing implementation feedback on proposed new payments specifications to standards bodies

The U.S. Payments Forum membership will be made up of current EMV Migration Forum members, which includes global and domestic payments networks, financial card issuers, payments processors, merchants, acquirers, industry suppliers and industry associations, and other new constituent groups representing mobile payments, e-commerce services, cloud payments, and new technologies. The breadth of the Forum’s membership is intended to ensure that all stakeholders have a voice in the future of the U.S. payments industry.

U.S. EMV Chip Migration Status and Continued Focus

Since its inception in 2012, the EMV Migration Forum has created many resources to educate and provide chip technology implementation guidance, including white papers, webinars, educational video recordings, campaigns and websites. Some of its notable contributions include:

• Defining the technical approach for implementing Durbin-compliant EMV debit for the U.S. market
• Providing educational resources for consumers, merchants and issuers, including the GoChipCard.com website
• Publishing guidance on key technical considerations, including minimum card and terminal requirements and transaction processing during communications disruptions
• Hosting and supporting meetings and working committees to facilitate discussion of EMV implementation across multiple stakeholders
• Providing recommended communications best practices for issuers and merchants

Vanderhoof added, “Most consumers have at least one chip card in their wallet and are able to use the chip to shop frequently, and the payment networks are already reporting drops in counterfeit card fraud. With this progress, there is still work to be done. The migration to chip payments is the biggest and most complex implementation by the U.S. payments ecosystem, and will remain a top priority for the U.S. Payments Forum.”

The U.S. Payments Forum will continue to focus on areas of the migration that require support and implementation guidance, including EMV debit and contactless acceptance, as well as segments that have unique requirements including hospitality, grocery, petroleum, transportation and ATM.

About the EMV Migration Forum

The EMV Migration Forum is a cross-industry body focused on supporting the EMV chip implementation steps required for payment networks, issuers, processors, merchants, and consumers to help ensure a successful introduction of more secure chip technology in the United States. The focus of the Forum is to address topics that require some level of industry cooperation and/or coordination to migrate successfully to chip technology in the United States. The EMV Migration Forum is changing its name to become the U.S. Payments Forum to expand its scope and provide the same level of cross-industry coordination on topics impacting the payments industry.

Contact

Megan Shamas
Montner Tech PR
203-226-9290
[email protected]