U.S. House Small Business Committee: Small Business Owners Start Adopting New EMV Payment Card Technology

Today, the U.S. House Small Business Committee will hold a hearing entitled “The EMV Deadline and What it Means for Small Businesses,” which will discuss the adoption of EMV technology by U.S. small business owners. EMV microchips use a unique one-time code to authenticate debit and credit card transactions, making it nearly impossible for encrypted data to be used to conduct counterfeit fraud.

“With nearly 60 percent of U.S. consumers claiming to have at least one chip-enabled card in their wallet, the United States is already the largest chip card market in the world.  Chip-enabled devices are already in use at more than 300,000 merchant locations, representing a 547 percent year-over-year increase. In fact, small businesses accounted for about half of chip payment volume last month.

“Last week, the Payment Security Task Force’s eight financial institutions said in a statement that 30 percent of their customers’ credit and debit cards were chip-enabled as of the end of June, a number expected to grow to 60 percent by the end of the year and 98 percent by the end of 2017.

“We’re making tremendous progress in helping ensure consumers are protected in the digital age. For momentum to continue in consumers’ favor, it’s more important than ever for card issuers, banks, card processors and retailers to continue working together to ensure a smooth transition. With this in mind, we see the October 1, 2015 EMV deadline not as an endpoint, but as the continuation of a positive and productive movement toward fraud reduction and increased data security.”

More information is available at www.electronicpaymentscoalition.org.

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About the Electronic Payments Coalition

The Electronic Payments Coalition (EPC) includes credit unions, banks, and payment card networks that move electronic payments quickly and securely between millions of merchants and millions of consumers across the globe. EPC’s goal is to protect the value, innovation, convenience and competition in today’s growing electronic payments system. EPC educates policymakers, consumers and the media on the system’s role in economic growth, and the importance of protecting consumer choice and stability for the continued growth of global commerce.