May 22, 2012 – MasterCard has proposed the formation of a cross-industry group designed to foster collaboration and alignment between all stakeholders in the coming move to EMV “chip and pin” technology in the United States. The cross-industry group, representing networks, issuers, merchants, acquirers, processors, terminal manufacturers, card manufacturers and other stakeholders would focus on key areas including:

• Providing guidance on non-proprietary technical issues and standardizing the consumer experience
• Creating a set of common terms, descriptions and guidelines for EMV-enabled cards, devices and terminals
• Sharing and implementing best practices to simplify the implementation and consumer education processes.

“We recognize that this next step toward a world beyond cash has raised a number of questions among our customers from baseline standards to timelines and implications,” says Chris McWilton, MasterCard’s president of US markets. “Industry collaboration has proven to be critical to the successful migration to EMV in other parts of the world.”

Initial discussions around forming the proposed group have already started, says the payments network. Partners throughout the industry indicated strong support for cross-industry collaboration to drive a smooth migration to EMV.

“We support the efforts to bring all parties involved in EMV together,” said Randy Vanderhoof, executive director, Smart Card Alliance. “It is critical that the industry come together to collaborate around key topics to have a common framework and processes in place to ensure a successful upgrade of U.S. payments technology. We look forward to discussing how the Smart Card Alliance can play a key role in the formation of this industry forum.”