Industry Leaders Debate the Future of EMV Payments at CARTES in North America

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

As the world goes, so goes the United States when it comes to EMV payments? Financial and retail industry leaders are gathering at the CARTES in North America expo & conference, March 5-7, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nev., to discuss what the future holds for the deployment of the international Europay, MasterCard, Visa (EMV) standard for credit and debit card payments in the U.S. during a day-long-track on Monday, March 5.

While Visa announced in August 2011 its intention to speed up the adoption of EMV contact and contactless chip technology in the U.S., the industry's reaction has been mixed. Issues such as security, interoperability, infrastructure investments and the emergence of other payment technologies such as Near-Field Communication (NFC) are factors in North American adoption of EMV. The benefits and challenges of rolling out EMV in North America, whether it will become the next widely-adopted payment solution and what lessons can be learned from implementations in other parts of the world are some of the topics that will be featured during the Worldwide EMV Deployments track at Cartes in North America. Richard Mader, the executive director of the Association for Retail Technology Standards, will chair the track, featuring speakers from EMVCo (UK), Intelcav (Brazil), Galitt (Canada), Aconite Technology (Canada), TAS group (Italy), as well as ABnote, MasterCard, Verifone and Visa from the U.S.

According to Daniel Chatelain, Managing Director of the BayPayForum in San Francisco, California, “Payment systems worldwide are feeling the pressure of innovation, but when it comes to day-to-day transactions at the point of sale, the US has always preferred convenience to security compared to Europe. With the last Visa announcement on EMV, things may change quickly. The entire industry is now embarking on a complete redeployment of terminals to accept chip and PIN or chip and signature along with mobile NFC and contactless payments. If all this happens, the industry and its stakeholders will be busy for years to come.”

The debate about EMV standards adoption in the U.S. will shift away from POS fraud to a larger focus on security solutions. The technology will also benefit international travelers, as it will create more card payment interoperability among countries.

“To what extent EMV payment will be the next evolution in the card payment space and what complementary payment technologies may co-exist is a hotly debated topic,” said Isabelle Alfano, event director of CARTES in North America. “We'll be exploring these issues and ways to help issuers, acquirers and merchants sort fact from fiction.”

CARTES in North America, produced by Comexposium, is endorsed by global and local partners such as the BayPay Forum, Eurosmart, GlobalPlatform, OATH, SIMalliance, Smart Payment Association, The Nilson Report and WIMA NFC USA. Exhibitors and sponsors include ABnote, 3M, CPI Card Group, Gemalto, HID, MasterCard Worldwide, Oberthur, Renesas and Verifone.

To exhibit or attend CARTES in North America, or for more information, visit, www.CARTES-northamerica.com.

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About CARTES

The CARTES Network encompasses the leading international and regional exhibitions and conferences devoted to smart technologies. From its beginnings in Paris in 1985, CARTES has grown to become the world number one security and payment event, gathering 450 exhibitors and 20,000 visitors from 142 countries. Since 2010, CARTES exhibitions and conferences have taken place in Asia and are now being introduced in North America. CARTES events are organized by COMEXPOSIUM, the leading French professional trade fairs organizer, offering a high level of service and premium quality standards for exhibitors and visitors.