70% of US credit cards to be EMV enabled by the end of 2015

According to Aite Group, by the end of 2015, 70% of US credit cards and 41% of debit cards will be EMV enabled.

Aite Group’s new research report, takes a look at the migratory experiences of five countries that preceded the United States in adopting the EMV standard: the United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, and Canada.

Rising counterfeit card fraud is a key reason why the EMV business case now works for US issuers, as credit card fraud rates doubled. Debit card fraud is also experiencing rapid rates of increase, so the fraud problem, combined with a number of other factors, has prompted a liability shift in the US market.

Another factor includes the difficulty that US cardholders have in using their magnetic stripe cards overseas. Therefore Aite Group predicts the EMV enabled card issuance process will increase in Q4 of 2014.

“Taking the world’s largest card market from mag stripe to EMV is a massive undertaking,” says Julie Conroy, research director in Retail Banking at Aite Group. ”The 17 months before the liability shift takes effect will pass by quickly, though, and issuers, based on lessons learned from other countries, should consider issues like fraud migration paths and how to counter them, as well as how to educate the consumer and merchant alike on chip cards. They should also consider using third-party expertise, already deployed in the EMV migration of other countries, to streamline the implementation process and help with the knowledge transfer.”

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