Time spent paying with a chip card just got a whole lot faster. Quick Chip for EMV, a specification enhancement from Visa, enables customers to dip and remove their EMV chip card at checkout in about two seconds or less. They can even do so before the transaction is complete (while the salesperson is still ringing up the items).
The game-changing technology is free-of-charge to payment processors, acquiring banks and other payment networks and requires only a simple software update to the merchant’s terminal or point-of-sale system. Merchants already EMV-compliant can be up and running in minimal time as the upgrade requires no changes to their routing or transaction handling or additional Visa or EMVCo testing.
Businesses who have been working with the solution, in fact, have experienced the benefits. “Speed at checkout is paramount for our customers,” says Robert Hayhow, vice president of North America Business Development at Equinox. “When Visa approached us about Quick Chip, we immediately saw the value of putting a solution into production.”
Quick Chip is also meant to facilitate the payment industry’s transition to EMV chip in the U.S. Since the EMV launch in the U.S. last year, 265 million Visa credit and debit chip cards have been issued to cardholders, making the U.S. the largest chip card market in the world. However, roughly 20 percent of all merchant locations have chip-enabled terminals. With the promise of faster, more secure checkout, transitioning to EMV chip technology becomes much more appealing to merchants across the nation.
“Merchants want a fast, reliable, and secure checkout experience and hassle-free implementation,” says Richard Char, senior vice president of Business Development, Verifone. “Quick Chip will help Verifone deliver better service to our clients and a better payment experience to their customers.”
Visa will demonstrate Quick Chip at ETA’s Transact conference April 19-21, 2016 in Las Vegas. Additional technical documentation is available at www.visachip.com.