MasterCard Announces EMV Industry Group

Purchase, N.Y.-based MasterCard announced the formation of cross-industry group designed to foster collaboration and alignment between networks, issuers, merchants, acquirers, processors, terminal manufacturers, card manufacturers and other groups in the implementation of EMV technology in the United States.

MasterCard issued a "roadmap" to EMV in January, emphasizing the need for the payments ecosystem to be aligned regarding the implementation of EMV standards in the U.S. Additionally, MasterCard introduced the need for securing all channels, including the ATM, and expressed a commitment to take a leadership role in delivering the maximum benefits to consumers and the industry from the EMV migration.

Last August, San Francisco-based Visa also announced its own EMV roadmap, in hopes of accelerating the migration to EMV contact and contactless chip technology in the United States.

According to MasterCard, specific details will be made available over the next few weeks on the workings of the group, as the industry continues to join together and formal structure of the group is formed.

"We recognize that this next step toward a world beyond cash has raised a number of questions among our customers from baseline standards to timelines and implications," said Chris McWilton, president for U.S. Markets, MasterCard. "Industry collaboration has proven to be critical to the successful migration to EMV in other parts of the world. It's our goal to bring the industry together in an objective forum. This will continue to move the U.S. forward and allow all to gain the maximum advantage from the upgrade to EMV."

[Related Content: MasterCard Says U.S. EMV Adoption is Key to Next-Gen Payments]

Bryan Yurcan is associate editor for Bank Systems and Technology. He has worked in various editorial capacities for newspapers and magazines for the past 8 years. After beginning his career as a municipal and courts reporter for daily newspapers in upstate New York, Bryan has ... View Full Bio