The laboratory will service the needs of the United States (U.S.) market, as well as customers based in Canada and Latin America.

EMVCo is the EMV standard body for credit and debit payment cards based on chip card technology. It has an established certification program to confirm products meet the requirements outlined in the EMV Specifications. This promotes increased levels of confidence that EMV products will perform as intended and ensure interoperability between payment devices.

"With EMV Contactless being mandated by major payment schemes and the U.S. working towards its EMV migration deadlines, it is vital that on-the-ground EMV testing and certification can be offered," explains Xavier Giandominici, Director at FIME America. "We are delighted to now have an EMVCo qualified test bench and to be able to offer these services on-site in Montreal, allowing us to meet the ever-growing demand from regionally-based customers. We believe that this investment will increase capacity and ensure shorter testing cycles."

This announcement follows the opening of FIME's U.S. office in San Francisco earlier this year. Pascal Le Ray, General Manager of FIME Group, adds: "With laboratories across Europe, Middle East and Africa, Asia and America, FIME has developed a vast knowledge and skills-base globally and recognizes the value of sharing expertise at this high level. Having local proximity to our customers, however, is key to truly understanding and engaging in local challenges and regional variations. We are dedicated to not only expanding our local footprint, but ensuring these operations offer the testing and certification services local stakeholders need."

Xavier concludes: "This is an exciting time for the payments industry in the U.S. as we transition to a chip-based infrastructure, which can support advance payment methods and offer consumers the choice to make contactless mobile payments. FIME is already working with many of its customers to bring these innovative solutions to market."

FIME America partners with a number of leading schemes and industry bodies to provide certifications and enhance the secure chip ecosystem. FIME's Montreal laboratory now offers American Express, Isis, MasterCard Mobile certifications as well as card and terminal testing for Discover Zip, Interac Dual Interface, STAR Certiflash and MasterCard PayPass™. FIME also contributes to the EMV Migration Forum initiative to share its secure chip knowledge and support the U.S. in streamlining its certification processes.