Survey: The waiting is the hardest part of EMV

Tom Petty fans can commiserate with retailers who report having difficulty implementing EMV due to slow movement from the payment card industry.



According to a new survey of retailers conducted by the National Retail Federation (NRF) in May and June, 48% of respondents had already implemented the new EMV chip card system or expected to have done so by the end of June. A total of 86% expect to have EMV up and running by the end of the year.



Of those who had not implemented, 57% said they had already installed the card readers and other equipment but were still waiting for certification by the card industry so they could turn it on. And 60% of those said they had been waiting for six months or longer.



The survey also found that EMV is a top priority for retailers. Fifty-eight percent of those surveyed called it their top payments-related challenge for 2016, and 72% said it is their top payments initiative for the year.



“Under new card companies rules that took effect in October, if a counterfeit chip card is used in a non-chip card reader – or a chip reader that hasn’t been certified – the retailer has to absorb the fraud cost,” Mallory Duncan, NRF senior VP and general counsel, said in a statement. “In addition to fraud involving the new chip cards, some retailers say fraud from traditional magnetic stripe cards – which is the banks’ responsibility – is being improperly attributed to lack of a chip reader and charged to retailers.”