Legislative, Regulatory & Legal

As of Oct. 1, retailers who do not comply with the Europay, Mastercard, Visa (EMV) security standard that relies on embedded chips in payment cards face a shift in card fraud liability. Many EMV issues have not yet been resolved. Here are three big ones:

Swipe left out
Retailers have been warned repeatedly that if they do not implement EMV-compliant POS terminals, they will bear liability for any fraud resulting from an EMV card transaction.

Steinmart didn’t admit wrongdoing and the Securities and Exchange Commission didn’t bring any charges, but concluding a nearly five year old accounting investigation still cost the company $800,000.

An $800,000 fine may not sound like much to retailers with annual sales in the billions, but Steinmart is relatively small, generating sales of $311 million from 269 stores in the second quarter. An $800,000 fine represents 20% of the company’s net income for the period.

The upcoming Oct. 1 deadline for retailers to accept EMV-compliant, chip-based payment cards or face increased fraud liability mandates that retailers read card information stored in chips. However, the mandate does not specify whether the card be further verified by a PIN number or customer signature, and the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) has a clear preference.

In the two months since the Department of Labor announced its proposed new overtime standards, much has been written about what it may mean for employers both big and small.

For business operators, the ramifications are still being assessed and significant impacts will be felt not only in labor costs but also in how their businesses will operate moving forward. There’s a larger and more important effort underway, however, and the overtime regulations are just one piece of the puzzle.

The Retail Industry Leaders Alliance (RILA) is refuting public claims about retailers lagging behind banks and card networks in transitioning to EMV compliance. Randy Vanderhook, executive director of the Smart Card Alliance, said in a San Diego Union Tribune article that although consumers have largely been issued EMV-compliant chip cards, retailers have not been activating terminals or completing chip migration.

Two bills passed by a key House committee would help retailers save on store remodeling and improvement costs upfront.

While the financial industry is supporting the use of chip-and-signature cards to meet the upcoming Oct. 1 EMV mandate, consumers are less convinced.

It’s official – Target Corp. will face a class action lawsuit related to its November 2013 data breach.