Shazam Inks Debit EMV Deal with Visa, Furthering Industry Alignment (April 17, 2014)
Shazam Network and Visa Inc. have reached an agreement for routing EMV debit transactions using Visa’s common debit application identifier (AID) for Visa- and Shazam-branded transactions, the Des Moines, Iowa-based debit network announced April 16. Shazam joins a growing list of U.S. debit networks that recently resolved the quandary of routing EMV debit transactions within the constraints of the Durbin Amendment of the Dodd-Frank Act. The law requires each debit network to offer merchants the choice of at least two unaffiliated debit networks. The payment networks have set October 2015 as the date for shifting liability to the party that is not EMV-ready, in their ongoing efforts to help block counterfeit card fraud at the POS.
After nearly two years of negotiations, action began to spark in February when First Data announced an agreement to license Visa’s common AID for its STAR Network. Within weeks Fiserv announced an agreement to license MasterCard’s common AID for routing debit EMV transactions for its Accel debit network. And, also in March, Discover’s PULSE debit network reached an agreement with Visa for routing debit EMV transactions. Other announcements followed, with more debit networks expected to announce similar deals soon.
Shazam is a founding member of the Debit Network Alliance (DNA), formed in December 2013 by 10 U.S. PIN debit networks that proposed development of a U.S. debit common AID the debit networks would own and manage. “We’re still very much a part of the DNA, which has provided a lot of value in reaching collaboration on the EMV shift,” Terry Dooley, Shazam senior vice president and chief information officer, tells Paybefore. While Visa and MasterCard each offer an AID that appears acceptable to most U.S. debit networks, the DNA is still working on a third AID to route debit EMV transactions for special use cases, such as ATM-only cards, sources say.
