“Network News” on EMV

Big news on the EMV front: The network routing issues that have been slowing widespread adoption of EMV may be resolved – or nearly resolved. On April 15, CO-OP Financial Services announced an agreement with Visa to use the U.S Common Debit AID (application provider). This paves the way for CO-OP clients to deploy EMV for debit cards and ATMs at last.

The breakthrough is in part the result of 18 months of collaborative work by the Debit Network Alliance to find a common Durbin-compliant solution for EMV. If you’re mildly (or not so mildly) confused by the technicalities involved, here’s a quick summary of how this news affects credit unions:

Implement later, plan now. Although you shouldn’t rush out and begin converting to EMV this minute, there’s no reason to put off creating a rollout plan. Rollout could begin as early as the end of this year, so start planning now.

Be patient. Though we are indeed right on the edge of implementation, the industry is still developing the network routing process that will make the terms of this new agreement workable. Until this is sorted out, any EMV technology you implement is at risk of becoming obsolete once the new protocols are in place. For now, it’s better to wait.