NRF NEWS: Revel iPad POS First to Release EMV Processing in U.S.
Revel Systems has announced it has become the first iPad point-of-sale (POS) system to provide EMV compatibility (device that allows the new standard of “chip and PIN” cards to allow processing on a point-of-sale system) in the United States in anticipation of upcoming deadlines for EMV certification and PCI compliance that could potentially cost business owners thousands of dollars in fees and fines. With credit card fraud on the rise and standards set to change over the next few years, Revel Systems is leading the movement aimed at boosting security and global interoperability with integrated circuit (IC) cards and increasing the flexibility and customization that Revel’s customers have come to expect for their retail, restaurant and grocery store iPad POS systems.
While EMV has been a global standard for reading and using IC cards – also known as “chip and PIN” cards – with POS systems and ATMs in much of the world for some time now, it is new to the U.S. markets. This announcement by Revel Systems for direct POS integration with EMV-enabled products in the United States as well as Australia is a move that marks the initial steps of a plan to eventually integrate with all major EMV providers. Specifically, the company’s integration into payment solutions includes providers Ingenico Group and Australia-based Quest Payment Systems, with VeriFone Systems, the Genius platform and Tyro Payments to follow soon. The company also plans EMV integration in the UK, the EU and Japan.
What Business Owners Should Know About EMV:
Named for the integrated security chip and required user PIN number at the point of purchase, chip and PIN cards are considered a more secure payment processing method for both credit and debit cards than the magnetic swipe, which is currently the U.S. standard. Unlike magnetic swipes, chip and PIN cards cannot easily be hacked by computer codes, while the PIN number prevents employee theft and card-capturing fraud.
Until now, Revel Systems—like other tablet POS providers—required external hardware for EMV reading, which was slower and did not integrate directly into the POS. Now, however, Revel iPad POS systems will speak directly with EMV devices, with reporting and tracking functions built directly into the Revel backend management console.
Important Deadlines to Remember:
Visa, MasterCard and others have put together a list of dates and deadlines for the universal adoption requirements for U.S. vendors, as follows:
- Effective 1 April 2013 – Visa will require VisaNet acquirer processors to ensure that their systems support merchant EMV chip acceptance. More details can be found here: http://usa.visa.com/download/merchants/bulletin-us-acquirer-mandate-080911.pdf
- Effective 2016 – All MasterCard compatible ATMs will be required to be EMV compliant, and all merchants will be expected to have EMV terminals. Visa and MasterCard will be placing the burden of EMV implementation on the merchant, requiring all merchants to have EMV-enabled hardware by 2016, with hefty fines on all non-adopters that get hacked or have lapses in credit card security.
These new standards mandate that for as little as a few hundred dollars, merchants can invest in EMV-enabled systems that would completely remove the need for PCI compliance in businesses. Visa similarly announced that merchants processing 95 percent of transactions through chip and PIN readers by 2015 would no longer need to maintain PCI compliance. PCI compliance, the current credit card security standard for U.S. businesses, costs thousands of dollars a year, with very hefty fines on non-compliant merchants.