EMV
The card associations require that POS-terminals have to be EMV compliant. The abbreviation EMV stands for Europay, MasterCard, Visa and endorses an international credit card standard which is based on modern chip card technology.
Since the launch of the EMV-standard for Maestro, MasterCard and Visa more and more cards are equipped with a chip in addition to the common magnetic stripe. The card chip is more forgery-proofed than the magnetic stripe which reduces the fraudulent risk through stolen or lost chip cards.
Liability shift: benefits for card accepting companies
It is not only cardholders who benefit from the increased safety standards. Also card accepting companies gain one significant advantage through the EMV standard. Once terminals are switched to processing chip card payments, a merchant benefits from a liability shift. Only merchants who accept payments via terminals that meet EMV standards can reduce the fraudulent risk of payments with lost or stolen cards.
Principle condition for the liability shift is the usage of terminals which comply with the international safety standards of Europay, MasterCard and Visa.
EMV compatible terminals from Elavon
Elavon Merchant Services, one of the leading service providers for cashless payments, supports you with fast, secure and efficient solutions in order to implement the EMV standards with your countertop POS terminal. We supply our merchants with modern terminals which comply with the required safety rules. If you accept payments with a terminal from another provider, please make sure that your terminal(s) are EMV compliant.
Processing chip card transactions
The authorisation of payments with chip cards has to be made via the chip. EMV compatible terminals from Elavon consider this requirement automatically. Only if the chip is not readable, the terminal will request authorisation via the magnetic stripe provided the card was authorised for this backup by the card issuing bank. And the best: Modern terminals process the reading of the chip and the authorisation fast and secure.
While magnetic stripe cards contain card holder’s data on the magnetic stripe, chip cards store the relevant information on the forgery-proofed chip as well as on the magnetic stripe. The cardholder of a common magnetic stripe credit card authorises a payment only with his signature, while credit cards with chip have two methods of authorisation:
- Cardholder’s signature
- PIN entry at the terminal
The card issuing bank decides which way a payment has to be authorised. This information is stored on the chip, too.
Benefits of EMV at a glance
- Increased security for cashless payments
- Principle liability shift by using EMV compatible terminal
- Reduction of fraudulent risk of stolen or lost cards
- PIN authorisation by credit card payments possible
