EMV Smart Chip Cards Are Here
October 31, 2014 – Small Business Growth Alliance (SBGA) Prepares Members for Smart Chip Card Transition with New Technology for Liability Shift
Recent data breaches like Target, Home Depot, Albertsons, and most recently JP Morgan has put card security at the forefront of the public conscious. The truth is, with a 47% increase in fraud in the past year alone, the U.S. has become home to an estimated $8.6 billion dollars and counting in annual fraudulent card transactions. EMV – more commonly known as Smart Chip Cards – has finally arrived to the U.S. to help mitigate these losses.
Smart Chip Cards are embedded with a tiny microprocessor chip on the front of regular credit cards. This chip communicates directly with a business’s point of sale system to ensure that no two transactions are alike, making the card nearly impossible to duplicate and use for fraudulent transactions. While Smart Chip Cards have made card payments safer for customers and card issuers, merchants face carrying full liability for any fraudulent card used in their store if they are not properly equipped to handle Smart Chip Card transactions.
While the transition to Smart Chip Cards comes with change of equipment, the benefits to merchants upgrading their equipment are huge. One of the motivators behind the transition to a Smart Chip Card is the global inter-operability of cards. By accepting Smart Chip Cards, merchants are also opening their doors to millions of travelers worldwide to process and pay for transactions. In addition, the new Smart Chip Card terminals have the ability to accept near-field communication transactions like Google Wallet™ and the new Apple Pay™. By 2015, an estimated 60 million Apple Pay™ users will be looking to use their phones to complete transactions, as well as 575 million Smart Chip Card owners.
When it comes to Smart Chip Card technology, the benefits far outweigh the costs and potential fees. As an EMV Approved product provider, SBGA can help businesses make the transition to Smart Card Technology with ease.