The head of NAFCU slammed a recently-proposed delay in the deadline for the Europay, MasterCard and Visa EMV liability shift, but one outspoken credit union executive said a delay may actually be good for some credit unions.

In a March 23 letter to American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa, the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), which represents about 40,000 grocery stores and 25,000 pharmacies, said delays in card networks' release of specifications for card processing software and reports of 16-week-long waiting lists for EMV-capable payment terminals make the October 2015 deadline virtually impossible for grocery stores to meet.

After that deadline, retailers and other merchants will be held financially liable for any counterfeit fraud losses associated with debit and credit cards that are present at the time of the transaction. The idea is to encourage the use of EMV cards, which are widely regarded as less susceptible to fraud.