Inside the Wallets of Experts

Inside the Wallets of Experts: Majority of Electronic Payment Security Professionals Surveyed Carry EMV Chip Cards

Participants at Visa’s Asia Pacific Security Summit see how EMV chip cards are helping to drive the future of electronic payments and minimise counterfeit fraud.

Auckland, 8 June 2009 – Electronic payment cards equipped with EMV technology were a hit with payment security experts, with 75 percent carrying chip-enabled cards, according to a poll1 of participants at Visa’s Asia Pacific Security Summit 2009.

EMVchip cards use technology which helps to increase speed and versatility of electronic payments for both cardholders and merchants. Chip technology also helps minimises the risk of counterfeit card fraud.

Mike Smith, Visa’s regional head of risk management for Asia Pacific said, “Roughly 27 percent of all Visa cards in the Asia Pacific region are chip-enabled, yet 75 percent of the payment security experts from across the region who attended our summit tell us that they carry a chip card in their wallets. That these security professionals would personally hold chip cards is a strong industry endorsement of the value and benefits of EMV chip technology.”

The poll at the conference also uncovered an important shift in security concerns among electronic payment security professionals: only five percent of the delegates felt increasing counterfeit fraud was their top security concern – a shift that is addressed by the migration to EMV chip cards and terminals across the region.

Smith said: “As part of Visa’s multi-layered approach to payment security, the highly successful chip card mandate in Malaysia provides a strong example of chip-enabled cards as a powerful tool in reducing counterfeit cards – evidence that the region’s security experts have clearly taken to heart. Having witnessed the effect Malaysia’s accelerated EMV chip migration had on domestic counterfeit fraud, we want to see faster and more widespread adoption of the technology and use of the chip card across the region.”

Malaysia was the first country in Asia Pacific to mandate the use of EMV chip technology in 2005 in order to curtail card fraud. In the first three months of 2005, total domestic counterfeit fraud on Malaysian-issued Visa cards was almost US$677,000; 12 months later, domestic counterfeit fraud on Malaysian-issued Visa cards was virtually eliminated2.

Customer Service Innovation

EMV chip technology is the foundation of contactless payment and mobile payment platforms – both of which were cited by the security experts polled as the services which hold the greatest potential value for customers in the next one to three years. Mobile payment was at the top of the list of services selected, with contactless payment coming in a close second. Alerts, money transfer and remote payments rounded out the top five services with the greatest potential customer value.

Smith said: “Chip technology is helping to drive innovation in electronic payments. We are already seeing the promise of these innovations in locations across the region – for example Starbucks in Korea, where customers can pay for their coffee with a wave of their Visa payWave-enabled card or mobile phone instead of fumbling around for cash.”

About Visa

Visa Inc. operates the world's largest retail electronic payments network providing processing services and payment product platforms. This includes consumer credit, debit, prepaid and commercial payments, which are offered under the Visa, Visa Electron, Interlink and PLUS brands. Visa enjoys unsurpassed acceptance around the world, and Visa/PLUS is one of the world's largest global ATM networks, offering cash access in local currency in more than 170 countries.

1 Computerized poll of 190 bank, vendor, law enforcement and other security experts from Australasia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and other regional markets who participated in the Visa Asia Pacific Security Summit 2009 in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia on 27 May 2009. 2 om

2 According to Visa based on client reporting

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