The first transatlantic smart card-based cash dispensing transaction has been successfully carried out with a Visa card at a Den Danske Bank ATM. Denmark has now become the first country in the Visa EU region to implement EMV chip technology in cash machines for international cardholders.
The ATM transactions were made with Visa EMV cards issued by US as well as UK banks. EMV is a joint working group set up by the payment card bodies to develop interoperable standards for chip cards and terminals.
Marc Temmerman, executive vice president, Visa EU, says: "Fraud levels are in danger of escalating dramatically over coming years if magnetic stripe cards and card reading equipment are not replaced with the more sophisticated chip-based technologies. This project gives a strong signal to the market that Visa and its members are serious about a speedy migration to chip in order to more effectively control payment card fraud in Europe."
Visa has committed to investing EUR168 million in order to migrate cards and terminals to EMV chip ahead of 2005. Visa estimates that its cash incentive will save a total of EUR700 million in fraud costs and accelerate the implementation programme by at least six months.