Smart Card Alliance Webinar: Top 10 Reasons U.S. Should Consider EMV

"With so many countries in advanced stages of EMV/chip migration, the question is often raised -- why is the United States not following suit and migrating to this more secure technology?" said Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Smart Card Alliance. "Now with U.S. travelers beginning to have trouble using their magnetic stripe cards abroad, and the threat of fraud levels rising from within and from being imported from abroad, it is an ideal time for U.S. financial industry to take a thorough look at the costs and potential benefits of EMV/chip, and possibilities for implementation."

Industry expert speakers are Nick Holland of Aite Group, Dave Metcalfe of Bank of Nova Scotia, Deborah Baxley of KeyPoint Consulting, and Simon Hurry of Visa Inc. Speakers will discuss the current rate of EMV/chip deployment internationally, the benefits of the technology in fighting payment fraud, and implementation options for U.S. card issuers. The webinar will include a case study of EMV/chip implementation in Canada, and an analysis of how U.S. cardholders who travel abroad with non-EMV/chip cards alter their purchase behavior, resulting in lost card business and customer goodwill.

"Attendees should come away with an understanding of how an accelerated effort to migrate to chip card technology will allow the U.S. payments industry to effectively reduce fraud in the long term and ensure global interoperability and acceptance," added Vanderhoof.

Further Alliance resources on chip card technology in the U.S. payments industry include the position paper, "End-to-End Encryption and Chip Cards in the U.S. Payment Industry," and the white paper, "Fraud in the U.S. Payments Industry: Fraud Mitigation and Prevention Measures in Use and Chip Card Technology Impact on Fraud."

The Smart Card Alliance is holding the 3rd Annual Payments Summit Conference on February 23 - 25, 2010 in Salt Lake City. The Summit will include industry experts from banking, retail, transportation and mobile payments markets discussing convergence opportunities for chip technology.