Fifty-six percent of cards in use in February contained EMV chips, up from 46 percent in October, according to CardFlight in its EMV Migration Tracker report. The report shares insights on EMV chip card use among card holders and merchants in the United States since the Oct. 1, 2015, liability shift.
American Express leads the way in EMV chip card usage, with more than 88 percent of its cards containing EMV chips. California, Florida and Arizona lead the way in EMV issuance, with more than 60 percent of cards in use in those states containing EMV chips.
Some industry verticals see at least 75 percent of cards presented containing EMV chips, putting those merchants at highest risk for EMV-related chargebacks if they have not upgraded.
While EMV chip card technology has been implemented in Europe and other parts of the world for more than a decade, the rollout of EMV in the U.S accelerated more recently, with a liability shift introduced in October 2015. Since October, merchants who have not upgraded to accept EMV chip card transactions can become liable for counterfeit card fraud losses that occur at their stores with chip-enabled cards.
“Migrating to EMV chip card technology gives us a more secure system that will significantly reduce fraudulent charges on card present purchases,” said Derek Webster, CEO and founder of CardFlight.