Atlanta-based SunTrust said it is offering newly-issued credit cards with embedded microchips to enhance security, a move embraced by an industry that hopes to complete a full transition to the new cards by October 2015.
The EMV chips store and protect cardholder data, making them harder to counterfeit and numbers harder to capture. The cards, which don’t have a magnetic strip, are inserted into a terminal and the user follows prompts to complete transactions.
Card issuers plan to shift more of the liability for fraudulent transactions to merchants who do not process at least 75 percent of their transactions through an EMV enabled terminal by October 2015. Wholesale retailer Sam’s Club announced it will begin issuing cards with the chip this month.
According to researchers at Aite Group, by the end of 2015, 70 percent of U.S. credit cards and 41 percent of U.S. debit cards will have the EMV chip, named for its developers Europay, MasterCard and Visa. Among 18 card issuers surveyed by Aite, eight will begin issuing the cards by the end of 2014 and three more by the end of first quarter 2015.
The technology also may make it easier for U.S. travelers to use cards across Europe and other regions since the technology has been adopted in countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia and Brazil, not to mention Mexico and Canada.
Beverly Ladley, SunTrust’s client segments and solutions executive, called the EMV chips an extra level of protection. They will be available for consumer, business and commercial customers.
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