PRINCETON JUNCTION, N.J., Nov. 1, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- While the U.S. starts its move from magnetic stripe to secure EMV chip technology for payments, another new technology is emerging to make transactions more convenient - Near Field Communication (NFC)-based mobile payments. With this, important questions arise: Are EMV and NFC complementary? Will one impede the progress and acceptance of the other? How can the payments industry move to take advantage of both technologies?
The Smart Card Alliance answers these questions and more in a white paper released today, "EMV and NFC: Complementary Technologies that Deliver Secure Payments and Value-Added Functionality." It is available for free download at: http://www.smartcardalliance.org/pages/publications-emv-and-nfc-complementary-technologies-that-deliver-secure-payments-and-value-added-functionality.
"Though often viewed as competing technologies for payments, an EMV payment application can be stored on an NFC phone and enable secure mobile contactless payment transactions. The payment technologies - contact EMV, contactless EMV, and NFC in contactless card emulation mode - are standards-based and interoperable within a payment brand," said Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Smart Card Alliance. "This white paper explains why implementing EMV at the same time as NFC spreads makes a lot of sense. Issuers and merchants can take advantage of the increased security of EMV transactions, while also enabling the payments infrastructure for the rich set of NFC-enabled applications."
Aimed at educating merchants, issuers, acquirers/processors, and the mobile and NFC community in general, the white paper:
-- Provides a high-level description of EMV and NFC technology and their relationship to each other
-- Describes how contactless EMV works with an NFC mobile device
-- Describes how EMV and NFC technologies complement each other to deliver secure payment transactions
-- Describes an overview of the EMV ecosystem supporting NFC mobile contactless payment provisioning and transaction processing
The white paper is in addition to a number of educational initiatives the Smart Card Alliance is providing to the industry on EMV and NFC. Last summer, the Alliance launched the website EMV Connection (http://www.emv-connection.com/), which provides up-to-date information on the status of EMV migration, along with tutorials and educational resources that will assist with migration. The Alliance intends to launch a similar site dedicated to NFC shortly, while a complete NFC Resources webpage is available today.
The Alliance has also formed an independent, cross-industry organization, the EMV Migration Forum, that supports the alignment of the EMV implementation steps required for global payment networks, regional payment networks, issuers, acquirers/processors, merchants, and consumers to successfully move from magnetic stripe technology to secure EMV contact and contactless technology in the United States.
Participants involved in the development of this white paper included: Accenture LLP; Acumen Building Enterprise, Inc.; Apriva; Capgemini USA Inc.; Chase Card Services; Clear2Pay; Connexem Consulting; Consult Hyperion; Datacard Group; Exponent; First Data Corporation; FIS; Gemalto; Giesecke & Devrient; Heartland Payment Systems; ID Technology Partners; Infineon Technologies; INSIDE Secure; Interac Association/Acxsys Corporation; NACHA - The Electronic Payment Association; NagraID Security; NXP Semiconductors; Quadagno & Associates; TSYS; Visa Inc.; Watchdata Technologies Pte Ltd.
About the Smart Card Alliance Payments Council
The Smart Card Alliance Payments Council focuses on facilitating the adoption of chip-enabled payments and payment applications in the U.S. through education programs for consumers, merchants, issuers, acquirers/processors, government regulators, mobile telecommunications providers and payments service providers. The group is bringing together payments industry stakeholders, including payments industry leaders, merchants and suppliers, and is working on projects related to implementing EMV, contactless payments, NFC-enabled payments and applications, mobile payments, and chip-enabled e-commerce. The Council's primary goal is to inform and educate the market about the value of chip-enabled payments in improving the security of the payments infrastructure and in enhancing the value of payments and payment-related applications for industry stakeholders. Council participation is open to any Smart Card Alliance member who wishes to contribute to the Council projects.
About the Smart Card Alliance
The Smart Card Alliance is a not-for-profit, multi-industry association working to stimulate the understanding, adoption, use and widespread application of smart card technology.
Through specific projects such as education programs, market research, advocacy, industry relations and open forums, the Alliance keeps its members connected to industry leaders and innovative thought. The Alliance is the single industry voice for smart cards, leading industry discussion on the impact and value of smart cards in the U.S. and Latin America. For more information please visit http://www.smartcardalliance.org.