Study: Payment card issuers throw in their chips

As the Oct. 1 fraud liability shift for EMV-compliant chip cards looms, payment card issuers appear ready for the change.



According to a new study from the electronic payments industry group Payment Security Task Force (PST), the eight financial institutions that belong to the PST reported that 30% of their U.S. consumer credit and debit cards contain EMV chips as of June 30.



These issuers represent approximately 50% of U.S. payment card volume. According to the forecast, the number of chip cards in the U.S. from these issuers will to grow to 60% by the end of this year, expanding to 98% by the end of 2017.



“The latest forecast demonstrates the tremendous progress made to make chip cards a reality in the U.S.,” said Chris McWilton, president, North American Markets, MasterCard. “Consumers are the winners, as issuers and merchants are both working to deliver greater protections when paying for a purchase,”



A survey of PST acquirers estimates that approximately 40% of their terminals will be capable of accepting chip cards by the end of the year.



Among PST participants are American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citi, Credit Union National Association, Discover, First Data, Global Payments Inc., Kroger, National Association of Federal Credit Unions, Marriott, MasterCard, Navy Federal Credit Union, Sheetz, Shell, Subway, U.S. Bank (Elavon), Vantiv, VeriFone, Visa Inc., Walgreens, and Wells Fargo & Company.