The Smart Card Alliance, an industry group organized to promotewider use of cards enabled with computer chips, is starting a forum designedto facilitate the implementation of cards with chips in theU.S.

The EMV Migration Forum will be open to both individual creditunions and credit union trade associations and will help formulateand promulgate best practices for chip card readers and otherdevices as well as provide guidance on technical issues and promoteconsumer awareness of the new technology.

EMV stands for Europay, MasterCard and VISA, a global standardfor inter-operation of integrated circuit cards, the formal namefor the cards that carry the chips.

“We have seen in other markets around the world that cooperationand alignment of all participants' activities are necessary toensure that the migration to EMV-enabled cards, devices, andterminals is efficient, timely, and effective,” said Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Smart CardAlliance. “Industry stakeholders have called for a neutral forum toplay this role for the U.S. market. By creating an organizationthat brings together all of the payments stakeholders who have adirect role in the EMV migration in the U.S., without regard totheir past or present involvement with smart cards or other chiptechnologies, the EMV Migration Forum will be able to focus on theneeded coordination and cooperation across the paymentslandscape.”

Julie Conroy McNelley, research director for Aite Group's retailbanking practice, said, “The cross-industry collaboration that thisinitiative represents will be welcome for all stakeholders in thevalue chain. Merchants and issuers have been looking for unifieddirection and guidance, and this announcement promises to meet thatneed.”

“EMV's arrival in the U.S. has profound implications forissuers, merchants and the entire payments industry. While theglobal EMV experience will help, the devil is in the implementationdetails and common U.S. approaches will be needed for a smooth EMVtransition,” said George Peabody, Mercator Advisory Group'sdirector of emerging technologies. “The EMV Migration Forum canspeed deployment as well as improve the return on the considerableEMV investment in the U.S. because the technology has the potentialto do far more than prevent counterfeit card fraud.”