Even as pressure is mounting for retailers to adopt EMV technology as the deadline for EMV liability approaches on October 1, 2015, it appears that the EMV movement may be losing steam. A recent poll conducted by GfK Public Affairs and the Associated Press has found that just 10 percent of Americans has received a credit or debit card enabled with an EMV chip to date.
This means that the U.S. is not moving quickly enough to introduce chip-and-pin cards to satisfy the October 1 deadline set by the major credit card companies, which means that risk levels for fraudulent activity remains high. In 2014, the U.S. accounted for nearly half of all global gross losses on cards.
In the wake of major retail data breaches, like the Target or Home Depot attacks, pressure has increased to find ways to prevent cyberattacks before they happen.
Of those respondents who already have EMV cards, 35 percent already have used them in a chip-and-PIN terminal, while 30 percent expressed uncertainty about how to use the card.
Meanwhile, 46 percent of survey respondents say they don’t know why EMV cards are being introduced, and 22 percent doubt that the move would aid payment security.
Last year, the U.S. accounted for nearly half (48 percent) of $16.31 billion in global losses from credit, debit and prepaid cards. Data breaches in the U.S. contributed heavily to counterfeit transactions, which EMV cards are more effective at blocking in-store than mag-stripe cards. Nonetheless, more U.S. consumers expressed concern about the security of their personal information when shopping online (45 percent) than when shopping in-store (40 percent).
Whether or not consumers are ready, the liability for fraudulent transactions will shift away from issuing banks in October. After the deadline, the liability for credit card fraud will fall upon the least EMV-compliant party in any transaction. Retailers wishing to avoid losses would be wise to promote EMV adoption and be prepared to help customers learn to use the new cards.
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