EMVCo has announced that China UnionPay has joined as its latest member. According to the organization, "the addition of this global payment card system demonstrates the industry’s continued commitment globally to adopting and advancing the EMV standard for secure chip credit and debit payments."

Joe Cunningham, Current EMVCo Executive Committee Chair, commented:

EMVCo works to maintain, enhance and evolve EMV Specifications to continue offering secure and interoperable payments across the global payments industry. We are delighted to welcome UnionPay as a member and active contributor to this work. UnionPay’s addition as an equity member of EMVCo further reinforces the growth of the EMV standard globally. Its expertise at a technical, management and implementation level will support our ongoing goal to create a universally consistent and secure infrastructure that supports contact, contactless and mobile chip-based payments into the future.”

On the web:

• Visa Increases 'No-Signature Floor Limits" to $50 - Digital Transactions
• Cooperating Competitors? Yes, When It Comes To Payment Standards - Portals and Rails
• Digital Wallet Battle Heats Up As Visa And MasterCard Enter The Game - TechCrunch
• Wallet, Wallet Everywhere: Making Sense of the Mobile Payment Wars - TIME.com
• Public Apathetic Towards Contactless Payments In UK - Marketing Week
• PayPal’s Key To Winning Mobile Payments: Data - GigaOM
• 10 Ways to Take Credit Cards on your iPhone - MacApper
• 4 Risky Places To Swipe Your Debit Card - Bankrate.com

On the wires:

• New Mercator Report on Mobile Opportunities for Closed-Loop Issuers
• Latest EMVCo Figures Reveal Continued Market Adoption of EMV Technology
• Computer Services Enhances Card Sentry Risk Mitigation with ReD PRISM
• Acculynk Announces Alaska Option Issuers Enabled with PaySecure Internet PIN Debit
• Wright Express Acquires CorporatePay, a Leading Provider of Prepaid Virtual Cards to the U.K. Travel Industry

On the web:

• EMVCo Picks GlobalPlatform Secure Element Compliance Program - NFC World
• Not All Coupons You Buy Online Are Honored By Merchants - MSNBC.com
• Security in the Mobile Wallet: Is It Good Enough Yet? - Portals and Rails
• Facebook Fast-Tracks Its Payments Business - American Banker

On the wires:

• Braintree Develops Mobile Apps Payment Solution
• Microsoft Extends Successful Direct Operator Billing Agreement with MACH
• Irish Mobile Payments Provider boxPAY Opens North America for International Sellers
• Alliance Data Signs Multi-year Private Label Renewal Agreement With Buckle
• CHARGE Anywhere Introduces Spanish Language Mobile Payment App for Android
• New Mercator Report on Global EMV Migration and Adoption
• New Aite Group Report on Small Business Credit Cards

EMVCo has announced publication of a white paper providing an update on its work to securely standardise contactless mobile payments (CMP).

Patricia Partelow, EMVCo Executive Committee Chair, comments: “EMVCo recognises the great potential of using a mobile handset to initiate a payment. At the same time, we acknowledge that this creates new challenges for the payments market that must be resolved to implement a secure, efficient and sustainable infrastructure. EMVCo has been working over the last few years to ensure that its specifications and testing processes meet the requirements of this emerging payment environment and the development of this white paper delivers a full update on the activity. The document also aims to enhance the understanding of EMV technology among CMP industry stakeholders.”

The white paper is free to download from EMVCo’s website.

EMVCo has published a paper entitled ‘A Guide to EMV’ that provides "an overview of the EMV Specifications, processes and the role of the technology within the context of the wider payments industry. The publication, which can be downloaded from www.emvco.com, coincides with the release of EMVCo’s latest deployment figures which state that 40% of total payment cards and 71% of terminals in circulation globally are based on the EMV standard."

As of 1 September 2010, over one billion EMV cards and 15.4 million EMV terminals were active globally according to the latest figures from EMVCo, the EMV standards body collectively owned by American Express, JCB, MasterCard and Visa.

The official figures, which represent the latest statistics from American Express, JCB, MasterCard and Visa as reported by their member financial institutions globally, highlight the growing usage of EMV technology worldwide with 36% of total cards and 65% of total terminals in circulation based on the EMV standard.

EMVCo, the EMV standards body jointly owned by American Express, JCB, MasterCard and Visa, has announced its 2010 User Meeting to be held on 29-30 June, at the Singapore Marriott, Singapore. READ MORE »

EMVCo, the industry organization that manages the EMV Integrated Circuit Card Specifications, has announced a new participation framework that it says "will allow all payment industry stakeholders to play a more active role in guiding the organisation’s strategic and technical direction. This new framework creates unique opportunities for interested organizations, including payment card issuers, acquirers, merchants, processors, card and terminal vendors, networks and their representative associations, to provide input into the enhancement of existing and creation of future EMV Specifications for payment technologies." READ MORE »

The NFC Forum has announced it has formed liaisons with three industry-leading organizations key to the NFC global ecosystem: EMVCo, the GSM Association and the Smart Card Alliance. According to the forum, "these liaisons broaden and strengthen the NFC Forum's collaborative ties with key associations and standards bodies across the NFC ecosystem. As a first step in the liaisons, the Forum has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with each organization that outlines how they will collaborate to further the development of the NFC market and NFC-based solutions." READ MORE »

EMVCo, the EMV standards body jointly owned by American Express, JCB, MasterCard and Visa, has announced that it will host an inaugural EMV User Meeting on 30 June-1 July 2009, at the Sheraton Arabellapark in Munich, Germany. Users of the EMV Specifications from across the world are invited to attend the meeting, and participate in technical discussions on the development of the EMV standard for future contact, contactless and mobile payments. READ MORE »

EMVCo, the EMV standards body jointly owned by JCB International, MasterCard Worldwide and Visa Inc., has announced American Express as its fourth owner-member. According to the organization, "the addition of this latest international payment organisation aligns with EMVCo’s intent to attract further industry participation in the development of the EMV Specifications." READ MORE »

EMVCo, the EMV standards body owned by JCB International, MasterCard Worldwide and Visa Inc., has announced plans to "broaden industry participation in the development work of the organisation and establish a regular, formal dialogue between EMVCo and the global payments industry, through the launch of a new website subscription programme and annual user meeting." READ MORE »

MasterCard Worldwide has announced it has assigned the PayPass ISO/IEC 14443 Implementation Specification v1.1 to EMVCo, the EMV standards body jointly owned by JCB, MasterCard Worldwide and Visa International - saying the move "signals significant progress towards a common platform for contactless EMV payment transactions."

EMVCo, the EMV chip card standards body jointly owned by JCB, MasterCard Worldwide and Visa International, has announced its launch of a Card Type Approval process for Common Core Definitions (CCD) and Common Payment Application (CPA) compliant cards.

EMVCo, a joint venture operated by JCB, MasterCard and Visa, has announced the release of the Common Payment Application (CPA) Specification "to facilitate global chip migration and deployment by decreasing the cost, complexity and maintenance requirements of Issuer's card systems."

JCB has announced it has acquired a one-third ownership in EMVCo, LLC, joining MasterCard International and Visa International with each having equal interests in the organization.