U.S. EMV Card Shipments up 500% over Last Year, Association Reports (Feb. 4, 2015)
The U.S. migration to EMV is well underway in advance of the October 2015 EMV network liability shift, with EMV card manufacturers shipping 185 million EMV cards last year, up more than 500 percent from 30 million in 2013, the Europe-based cross-industry Smart Payment Association announced today. EMV card shipments worldwide rose to 1.5 billion from 1.2 billion last year, Brian Russell, senior vice present of payment and transit for Giesecke & Devrient’s U.S. Mobile Security Division, told attendees at the Smart Card Alliance’s Payments Summit today in Salt Lake City.
Contactless EMV cards are becoming more common in mature EMV markets, according to Russell. About 40 percent of all EMV cards shipped globally last year were contactless, and in Europe and Asia—where a large percentage of payment terminals support tap-and-go payments for lower-ticket purchases—about half of all consumers’ EMV cards are contactless, he noted. In the U.S. only about 10 million of all EMV cards shipped so far feature contactless payment capability, but that percentage is likely to rise, Russell suggested. “In the U.S., issuers are just beginning to look at contactless EMV card options and considering its expansion in light of the role mobile handsets will play in payments going forward.”
See related stories:
