EMV Shift at the Pump Delayed
Recently, both Visa and MasterCard announced an extension of the EMV liability shift date for automated fuel dispensers (AFD), from October 2017 to October 2020. In many cases, in order to upgrade to EMV entire gas pumps need to be replaced – an update expected to cost the gas station industry roughly $4 billion.
EMV will go a long way in addressing the $250 million in fraud that the gas station industry experiences annually. Visa’s merchant-customers have reported a 43% decrease in fraud over the previous year since adopting the technology, while Mastercard reported a 54% reduction in year-over-year fraud for merchant-customers employing EMV. Both Mastercard and Visa announced separate fraud monitoring programs and tools for fuel merchants to help detect and address any increases in counterfeit card fraud.
On December 1, ETA released the following statement in response to Visa and Mastercard’s announcements:
“We applaud Visa and Mastercard for each taking this important step in recognition of the unique challenges faced by AFD merchants in migrating to EMV acceptance capabilities. Fuel pumps often feature integrated payments terminals, requiring in many cases the replacement of an entire pump, which can involve significant costs, environmental permitting and heavy construction. Taking into account the migration challenges and relatively low fraud at AFDs, the card network liability shift deferment is a positive and balanced action supporting merchants and industry EMV migration efforts. With new mobile payments innovations, AFD merchants will now have additional time to ensure the latest electronic payments options are available for their customers. As the successful migration to EMV continues across the country, with some two million merchant locations already upgraded to chip readers, and more than 600 million chip cards in consumer wallets, ETA members will continue to work collaboratively to fight fraud on behalf of merchants, issuers, and most importantly to protect consumers.”
Visa’s announcement regarding the updated EMV shift date is available here, and Mastercard’s announcement can be found here.