Aite Group analyst Julie Conroy McNelley said she has heard from multiple sources that, effective April 2013, MasterCard will require member bank ATMs to accept EMV cards.
“That is very aggressive, a blink of an eye in banking,” McNelley said Wednesday.
She acknowledged that “I have not gotten direct confirmation of this from MasterCard.” But she said Aite has heard this from multiple banking sources.
Added McNelley: “Reduced revenues in wake of [the] Durbin [amendment] will drive the U.S. to EMV. The financial institutions do not have the revenues to absorb fraud losses.”
EMV, she elaborated, will be embraced as institutions seek to push fraud down to as little as possible. “The revenue off the cards no longer can absorb the fraud hit,” said McNelley.
“MasterCard is trying to take a market-leading position,” said McNelley. “The EMV freight train is picking up steam.”
MasterCard had not responded to a Credit Union Times request for clarification at the time this story posted.
Visa Inc. last month announced it would be backing the use of chip-embedded smart card technology in the U.S.
