Only Six Months Remain to Comply with EMV Standard

RONKONKOMA, NEW YORK — MetroBPS is reminding all establishments which accept credit cards as a form of payment that they must adhere to the upcoming EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa) standard by October 1, 2015. This means that brick-and-mortar stores and restaurants must install new point-of-sale (POS) terminals that will accept these highly advanced EMV cards, which provide a more secure form of payment. Failure to do so, the company says, may result in liability for the retailer.

The EMV card features a metallic contact plate on the front of the card which has a microprocessor chip located behind the plate. When the card is inserted into the terminal, the contact plate allows the chip to connect to a reader. The connection gives the chip an electrical charge and also allows the chip to exchange data with the terminal.

After the card is scanned, the customer enters the necessary information to complete the transaction. Meanwhile, a one-time code is generated between the chip and the reader that is needed to complete the transaction. The code is stored in the background so that it cannot be accessed by hackers seeking to steal the consumer’s identity. According to the Federal Reserve Bank, EMV cards can reduce credit card fraud by 40%.

“This next phase of personal financial security is the solution to preventing credit card fraud and identity theft,” says Chad Horal, Chief Executive, MetroBPS. “Consumers are growing more concerned that their credit card information will be ‘hacked,’ based on the data breaches that occurred with Target and Home Depot, as well as other big-box and online retailers. The EMV card will prevent such data breaches.”

While some EMV cards currently in circulation still require a PIN (personal identification number) as confirmation, more banks which are issuing these cards are requiring the user’s signature instead of a PIN. But with the new EMV cards, Mr. Horal says, the shifting burden of fraud and theft will turn from the banks to the consumer establishments. “Whenever there was any incident of fraud, the banks assumed the risk,” Mr. Horal says. “Now, the retailers and restaurants need to get with the times and add the chip reading technology to their POS terminals or else they will be held financially responsible for any fraudulent transactions.”

Other countries have already adopted the EMV standard. According to Aite Group, countries such as Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom have seen a 50%-75% drop in counterfeit fraud after adopting the chip technology. In the U.S., the Aite Group found, 33%-50% of small- and medium-sized retailers were unaware that such technology existed. On October 17, 2014, President Barack Obama signed an executive order to speed up the adoption of the standard and require credit card companies to make the transition from magnetic stripe cards towards those with embedded microchips.

“More banks and, eventually, more consumers will be moving towards these newer credit cards in the coming years,” Mr. Horal says. “Stores and restaurants in the U.S. will have six months to make the transition to accept these cards, but I advise them to update their POS systems immediately.”

For more information, call (800) 942-7970 or visit www.metrobps.com.

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About MetroBPS

MetroBPS (Metropolitan Business Payment Solutions) supplies merchant locations with the ability to accept any form of electronic payment with an all-inclusive solution which offers their customers an extensive list of products and services while dealing with only one processing provider. The company’s experienced sales staff and business alliance program partners work to bring its merchants to the next level in processing all types of electronic transactions, including Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, debit, EBT, and private label card. For more information, call (800) 942-7970 or visit www.metrobps.com.