EMV stands for Europay, MasterCard and Visa, the 3 companies that created the global standard in the 1980s for cards equipped with smart chips, the EMV terminals and other technology used to authenticate each transaction.

An EMV card, also referred to as a Chip Card, Smart Chip Card or an IC Card, has a microprocessor computer chip that creates a unique transaction code when authenticating the data involved in each purchase.  Unlike the magnetic stripes that require swiping, the EMV chip can be read two ways, depending on the terminals used by the business and the technology of the card.  They can be read through a process called “card-dipping” where the card is inserted into the POS terminal, or by using NFC (near field communication) technology to tap against the terminal scanner, which is referred to as a contactless transaction.  Just because a chip card has a smart chip does not mean it will not also have a magnetic stripe, and it does not guarantee it has NFC capabilities for a contactless transaction.  The terminals and other equipment you decide on should take into consideration this gradual change in payment technology in order to avoid having to implement new terminals with each evolution.

Unlike the magnetic strip cards that use the same data to authenticate payments over and over again, every time a chip card is used at an EMV-compliant terminal, a unique  code is generated to approve the transaction— making it virtually impossible to duplicate in counterfeit cards and providing an additional layer of security to reduce in-store fraud. Our blog post, Does Your Business Need EMV (Smart Chip) Terminals?, goes into further detail regarding smart chip readers, deadlines and liability for transactions processed using a magnetic swipe after October of 2015.

For more information about upgrading to EMV, or Smart Chip, terminals, contact us.  We offer a number of choices for retailers with no contracts and no equipment costs.