As Debit Usage Grows, Issuers Seek to Ramp up Security (June 26, 2014)
Debit card growth continued in 2013, with consumers and businesses increasingly shifting toward electronic payments. The just-released 2014 Debit Issuer Study by Discover Financial Services’ PULSE Network also revealed that, in the wake of recent high-profile data breaches, issuers are looking for ways to enhance security, including issuing cards equipped with EMV technology.
The study, which polled 71 financial institutions of varying sizes, found that 86 percent of debit issuers planned to begin issuing EMV cards over the next two years—a significant jump from 50 percent of issuers in 2012. The most common EMV issuance strategy is to provide customers with an EMV debit card as part of the regular card reissuance cycle. Migration will begin in earnest in early 2015 and will take approximately three years, with many issuers providing EMV cards to their international travelers and heavy debit users in advance of the card networks’ liability shifts in October 2015, according to the report.
Issuers also expect strong growth for GPR prepaid cards in 2014, with spending estimated to increase 20 percent. Card loads are projected to jump 7 percent between 2013 and 2016, to around $250 billion. However, prepaid issuance is becoming a bit more consolidated, with the percentage of financial institutions issuing prepaid cards ticking down 4 points in 2013, to 80 percent.
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