US chip adoption continues to grow, says MasterCard

Mastercard shop

With less than two weeks to go until the US liability shift hits its first anniversary, MasterCard published new data evidencing the positive impact the technology is having on issuing banks, merchants and consumers, as well as saying adoption continues to grow.

According to the payments giant, as of July of this year, 88% of Mastercard U.S. consumer credit cards have chips. This marks an impressive 105% increase in chip card adoption since October 1st 2015.

It also saw 2 million chip-active merchant locations on its network, a 468% increase in chip terminal adoption since October 1, 2015. Two million merchants represent exactly a third of all U.S. merchants.

Of the 2 million chip-active merchant locations, 1.3 million are regional and local merchant locations, representing a 159% increase since October 1, 2015.

Craig Vosburg, president of North America for MasterCard describes these figures as marking “significant progress”. “This country is one of the most complex markets in the world so we know things won’t change overnight,” he added.

 

Cost of not migrating is increasing

The adoption is having a significant impact on card fraud in the US as Mastercard fraud data shows a 54 percent decrease in counterfeit fraud costs at U.S. retailers who have completed or are close to completing EMV adoption, when comparing April 2016 to April 2015.

It is also becoming more expensive not to migrate as counterfeit fraud costs skyrocketed by 77% for large American merchants who have not yet migrated or have just begun the migration to chip have just begun the migration to chip.

“There is no doubt chip cards will curtail fraud and it is exciting to see enhancements at the point of sale that will propagate usage, reduce friction and accelerate transaction time.”

 

Consumers also prefer chip, says MasterCard

MasterCard also recently surveyed 1,000 American consumers and found that:

  • 90% of  Americans frequently use chip cards, a 38 percentage point increase year-over-year, from 49% in 2015 to 87% in 2016.

“As more U.S. cardholders use their Mastercard chip cards, they are learning the benefits of increased safety and security. It’s no small undertaking to change the way people pay for things. The only reason to start this big a task is to make people’s lives better. Chips have the potential to do just that,” said Chiro Aikat, senior vice president of product delivery – EMV, Mastercard.

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