Mailings Promoting EMV Cards Pick Up As Issuers Prepare For Liability Shift

The message about the coming shift to chip card payments using the Europay-MasterCard-Visa (EMV) standard is getting out there, says Competiscan, a direct marketing firm.

The Chicago-based firm says its analysis finds that mentions of EMV in direct mail pieces from card issuers increased from less than 3% of all credit card estimated mail volume in the first quarter to more than 33% in the third quarter.

Additionally, Competiscan says seven of the top 10 credit card direct mailers have begun promoting cards with EMV via direct mail this year.

Its data also shows that credit portfolios tied to travel rewards or to frequent travelers continue to see high mail volumes from issuers.

“The rash of large-scale theft of credit card data is all over the national headlines, and half the world’s credit card fraud happens in America, so banks and issuers are taking this transition very seriously,” said Richard Goldman, Competiscan chief executive and founder.

Indeed, expectations are that EMV-card issuance will steadily increase as 2014 winds down and 2015 arrives.

Chief among issuers is Bank of America Corp., which began in October sending chip-based debit cards to its customers. And payments research firm Javelin Strategy & Research forecasted that in October only 1.5% of an estimated 1.2 billion U.S. payment cards bore the EMV chip. By December, Javelin predicts that 29% of credit cards and 17% of debit and prepaid cards will be EMV enabled.