OREANDA-NEWS. Americans are increasingly using EMV chip cards to make purchases as 68 percent of all U.S.-issued MasterCard-branded consumer credit cards feature the technology as of April 30, 2016.

Chip-active merchant locations also increased to 1.4 million during this same time; including more than 1 million – or almost 25 percent of all – local and regional merchants.

“Our transition to EMV has been very smooth, the team learned the new system easily and our customers have taken to it seamlessly. EMV has meant business as usual for us,” said Brittany Nassar, business manager of Sugarloaf EyeCare, an optometry center and upscale eyewear retailer in Duluth, GA.

To drive further collaboration and progress, MasterCard announced today it is working with other payments networks, acquirers, and processors on a standard to speed checkout times. These efforts will be based on the company’s M/Chip Fast solution, specifically designed for environments where faster transaction times are particularly important. It builds on the principles of contactless or “tap-and-go” technology helping to speed EMV transactions and shoppers through checkout lines. Testing and certification for M/Chip Fast is streamlined for efficient adoption.

“The whole point of EMV is to reduce counterfeit card fraud,” said Chiro Aikat, senior vice president of product delivery – EMV for MasterCard. “We are impressed with the progress that’s been made so far. We’re taking these steps today to continue the pace of adoption. Making our M/Chip Fast technology available to all parties is our latest investment in this ongoing commitment.”

The chip cards and terminals are already having an impact. Based on MasterCard fraud reports from a compilation of large chip-enabled U.S. merchants:

  • Counterfeit card fraud basis points at those merchants have decreased by 39 percent in January 2016 as compared with January 2015
  • Counterfeit fraud at those merchants has decreased by 27 percent in terms of their overall U.S. dollar volume in January 2016 as compared with January 2015