PRINCETON JUNCTION, N.J.–Nine out of 10 Americans are now using EMV, or chip, cards to make purchases, while approximately one-third of U.S. merchant locations are now enabled to accept such payments, according to a market snapshot released by the U.S. Payments Forum.
The latest findings also show that 79% of ATMs will have completed the migration to EMV by the end of this year.
“The volume of chip-on-chip transactions has been growing at a steady rate, but we need to accelerate merchant enablement to reach critical mass and meet the goal of the chip migration: removing in-store counterfeit card fraud, the largest source of fraud in the U.S., from the system,” said Randy Vanderhoof, director of the U.S. Payments Forum, in a statement. “To help the industry meet this goal, the Forum is prioritizing outreach and educational programs for the ATM, petroleum, transit and hospitality industries, as well as the mid-size merchant community.”
Vanderhoof said there had been misconceptions within the petroleum industry that led to delayed adoption of EMV at its pay-at-the-pump systems, but the industry is now accelerating its efforts.
During 2017 the U.S. Payments Forum also said it is prioritizing the importance of addressing fraud in the card-not-present (CNP) environment in online and mobile channels. The Forum’s Card-Not-Present Fraud Working Committee and Mobile and Contactless Working Committee are launching projects to provide best practices and educational resources on how to help secure these channels, the organization said.