MasterCard today announced the expansion of its U.S. electronic payments roadmap to include the ATM channel. Beginning in October 2016, a liability shift hierarchy will be introduced for ATM transactions in the U.S., as part of an effort to globally align the use of EMV technology to prevent and manage fraud in the payments ecosystem.
The liability shift will apply to all MasterCard-branded products across all transactions initiated at U.S. ATMs.
As part of its roadmap unveiled in January, MasterCard identified the need to further secure all channels by means of the implementation of EMV standards in the U.S. The company has taken a leadership role to foster collaboration to drive a smooth migration and advance the U.S. electronic payments system to deliver maximum benefits to consumers and the industry.
"This continues our commitment to look holistically at the next generation of U.S. payments," said Mike Weitzman, Group Executive, U.S. Markets, MasterCard. "As other markets have migrated to EMV, we have seen fraud shift to the least secure channel. By establishing this liability shift, we're advancing efforts to prevent and reduce fraud. At the same time, by making the announcement today, we're providing our issuers, acquirers and ISOs flexibility and sufficient time to manage their ATM technology decisions."
Last fall, MasterCard announced the extension of its existing EMV liability shift program for inter-regional Maestro ATM transactions effective 2013. The program announced today expands liability for U.S. ATM operators to include all EMV-enabled cards used at U.S. ATMs.
Analyst firm Aite Group estimates that fraud costs the U.S. card payments industry an estimated $8.6 billion every year. In addition, the firm's research shows that many industry executives agree that switching to the EMV standard can greatly help to mitigate card fraud, while minimizing risk and maximizing profitability.
"An upgrade of existing U.S. ATM systems to EMV is a necessary next step in the evolution of financial institutions' tactics to keep pace with fraudsters," said Julie Conroy McNelley, research director with Aite Group. "The industry executives we talk to are bullish on EMV migration to reduce their potential vulnerability from mag stripe fraud and make way for future innovations that can help enhance the value of electronic payments to consumers."
MasterCard was part of the original group that created the EMV standard and has supported the successful migration to EMV-based payments in every major market globally to date. The company's continued investment in advancing these infrastructure standards has provided insights and expertise to guide the industry in advancing payments security and convenience.