WASHINGTON -- More than half of retailers waiting to go live with EMV already have card readers installed, but still are waiting for the required certification, according to a recently released cross-channel survey.
The survey found 48% of retailers responding already had implemented the new Europay MasterCard Visa or EMV chip-card system or expected to have done so by the end of June, said the Washington, D.C.-based National Retail Federation (NRF), which conducted the study this past May and June. A total of 86% expected to have EMV up and running by the end of the year.
Of those who had not implemented, 57% said they already had installed the card readers and other equipment but still were waiting for certification by the card industry to turn it on. Sixty percent of those retailers said they had been waiting for six months or longer.
The survey also found that EMV is a top priority for retailers, with 58% calling it their top payments-related challenge for 2016, and 72% saying it is their top payments initiative for the year.
Foster City, Calif.-based Visa acknowledged the delays last month, promising to streamline the process and provide more resources in an attempt to cut the wait times in half. They also promised to reduce the amount of fraud and fraudulent “chargebacks” borne by merchants.
“Unfortunately, that’s too little too late for retailers who have already endured months of delay and millions of dollars in unwarranted chargebacks for fraud,” said Mallory Duncan, senior vice president and general counsel for NRF, “not to mention complaints from customers about why they can’t use the chip function on their new cards even though the new readers are sitting right there.”
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