Large banks believe they will enjoy a liability advantage over merchants if they can issue their credit and debit cards with an EMV conforming computer chip prior to the October 2015 liability shift.

"The larger banks believe they will have an opportunity for a liability advantage if they have EMV enabled cards ready by October 1," explained Julie Conroy, research director for Aite Group's Retail Banking Group. "There is no way that that the retailers are going to be ready by then, so this is a chance for the retailers to share some of the fraud pain," Conroy said.

After Oct. 1, 2015, if a consumer uses a magnetic stripe in an EMV-capable POS terminal and the transaction is fraudulent, liability will rest with the issuer of the original magnetic stripe card. However, if a user uses a magnetic stripe card for a fraudulent transaction on a terminal that cannot process EMV, the liability for the fraud will rest with the merchant.