Visa Continues Small Business EMV Chip Education Tour in Cincinnati Partnering with Vantiv

Visa Continues Small Business EMV Chip Education Tour in Cincinnati Partnering with Vantiv

20-city tour designed to help small businesses understand how and why they should prepare for accepting chip payment cards

CINCINNATI, May 5, 2015 - Visa Inc. V today continued the 20-City Small Business Chip Education Tour with a stop in Cincinnati, Ohio partnering with Vantiv VNTV, a leading payments technology provider based in Cincinnati, and the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber of Commerce to help businesses understand the value of chip payment card technology and increase chip card acceptance.

"As the largest segment of merchants in the U.S., it's critical that small businesses understand how chip technology works and how it can help entrepreneurs protect both their businesses and their customers from fraud" said Daniel Sanford, Sr. Director of Global Corporate Initiatives at Visa. "Today's stop in Cincinnati is just one way Visa and our local partners are working with small businesses to ease the transition to chip technology."

The Small Business Chip Education Tour is designed to help businesses understand the value of chip payment card technology and increase chip card acceptance. Participants will have the opportunity to hear from payments industry experts and connect directly with merchants who have already migrated to chip technology. They will also have an opportunity to see demonstrations of how chip technology works at the payment terminal to protect sensitive account information from risk of fraud.

"The move to EMV is one of the largest changes in the payment industry, and because of that we are committed to helping businesses - both large and small - make this critical shift," said Patty Walters, Senior Vice President, Corporate EMV Strategy at Vantiv. "Payments security is a shared responsibility between businesses, financial institutions and payment processors to keep the cardholder data safe and secure."

Chip education and adoption is critical, because as of October 1, 2015, liability for counterfeit fraud on Visa chip card accounts will shift from the chip card issuer to business owners who have not upgraded to chip-activated terminals.

"Adopting chip technology is one way our chamber members can demonstrate their commitment to protecting their customers from fraud," said Brian Carley, President & CEO of the Cincinnati Chamber. "The Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber of Commerce is proud to support Visa's commitment to equipping card holders and business owners with the tools they need to navigate through the challenges and opportunities of the digital age."

How Chip Cards Work

When inserted into a terminal, a chip card generates a unique, one-time code needed for the transaction to be approved. Because this code changes with every transaction, even if the card data is stolen, the information can't be used to create counterfeit cards because the stolen code would have already "expired." This feature makes EMV chip card data a less attractive target for criminals to steal. According to a report by Aite Group, counterfeit fraud in countries such as Australia, Canada and the U.K. decreased by 50-75 percent after merchants and financial institutions adopted chip technology.

Business and Consumer Education Campaign

The Small Business Chip Education Tour builds on Visa's efforts to educate consumers and businesses as to the role chip plays in a multi-layered approach to securing the payment ecosystem. Visa has partnered with financial institutions, business groups, media organizations, consumer advocacy groups, and others for in-market events throughout the U.S. The next events in Visa's Small Business Chip Education Tour will include stops in:

• Albuquerque, NM - May 7^th
• Sacramento, CA - May 14^th
• Boston, MA - May 20^th
• San Francisco, CA - May 22^nd
• Los Angeles, CA - May 28^th

In addition to in-market events, the Small Business Chip Education Tour also hosted a webinar on May 5^th in conjunction with National Small Business week.

Visa has also recently launched an online toolkit to help businesses make the transition. The toolkit, available at www.VisaChip.com/businesstoolkit includes a step-by-step guide to adopting chip as well as videos, infographics, and other resources to help merchants make the seamless transition to chip-activated terminals.

About Visa Inc.
Visa Inc. V is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable electronic payments. We operate one of the world's most advanced processing networks - VisaNet - that is capable of handling more than 56,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for consumers and assured payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa's innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: pay now with debit, pay ahead of time with prepaid or pay later with credit products. For more information, visit usa.visa.com/about-visa, visacorporate.tumblr.com and @VisaNews.

About Vantiv, Inc.
Vantiv, Inc. VNTV is a leading payment processor differentiated by an integrated technology platform. Vantiv offers a comprehensive suite of traditional and innovative payment processing and technology solutions to merchants and financial institutions of all sizes, enabling them to address their payment processing needs through a single provider. We build strong relationships with our customers, helping them become more efficient, more secure and more successful. Vantiv is the second largest merchant acquirer and the largest PIN debit acquirer based on number of transactions in the U.S. The company's growth strategy includes expanding further into high-growth channels and verticals, including integrated payments, ecommerce, and merchant bank. For more information, visit www.vantiv.com.

Contacts

Lori Stafford-Thomas
Director, Public Relations
970-335-4904
lori.stafford-thomas@vantiv.com

Beth Sullivan
Manager, External Communications
513-900-4212
elizabeth.sullivan@vantiv.com

Jennifer Morris
Visa Inc.
202 760 0145                            
jemorris@visa.com

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