Visa Works on Quick Chip Payment Systems

The payment processor has been concerned that consumers view ‘dipping the chip’ as more time-consuming than swiping.

April 15, 2016

FOSTER CITY, Calif. – To combat consumer perception that paying with an EMV chip credit card takes longer than swiping, Visa Inc. has been working on an alternative system that will appear quicker to the consumer, Payments Source reports.

While the amount of time spent checking it is roughly the same for EMV chip payments and magnetic stripe transactions, most customers feel dipping the chip takes more time because the card is left in the terminal during the transaction. Currently, many retailers have yet to make the switch to chip card payments, while some have gone back to swiping because of speed. Some also point out that the slow move to EMV cards has given a boost to mobile payment options, such as Apple Pay and Samsung Pay.

While Visa hasn’t given specifics yet about its alternative EMV payment system, the financial firm has confirmed it is working on such a process. “There are some ways that we can very easily replicate the experience that we've all become used to in the U.S.,” Stephanie Ericksen, vice president of risk products at Visa, told an audience earlier this week at SourceMedia’s Card Forum and Expo. “There's a way to put the card in, have it generate the cryptogram and pull the card out.”

Overall, consumers seem ambivalent as to whether merchants are EMV compatible or not. According to a recent CardHub survey, 42% of retailers have not updated terminals in their stores to make them EMV-compliant—and consumers don’t seem to care.

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