WESTWOOD, N.J. Ten debit networks agreed today to adopt a common U.S. debit application identifier and work with Discover Financial Services to license the D-Payment Application Specification, known as D-PAS, as the foundation for a common U.S. debit chip payment platform.
The Secure Remote Payments Council will also evaluate enhancing the specification's security by including the one-time card number technology developed by First Data / STAR specifically to mitigate skimming and data breach frauds.
The move comes a year after implementation of the Durbin amendment and its impact on the debit market, including the implementation of a two-tiered pricing system and new requirements on routing.
CO-OP Financial Services, which voted for the plan, said adoption of a common U.S. debit application identification and application is important to credit unions because it preserves their routing and network choices in connection with the emerging EMV standard. “As a founding member of the workgroup, CO-OP has actively participated in the SRPc to represent the interests of credit unions, and we will continue to help drive next steps, both in governance and deployment of the common U.S. debit AID and application,” said Stan Hollen, president of CO-OP Financial.
The other debit networks signing on are: AFFN, ATH, Jeanie, NETS, NYCE, Presto! PULSE, SHAZAM and STAR.
The decision comes after months of evaluation of several proposals including the most recent AID proposals by MasterCard and Visa. Evaluation criteria included: maintaining routing choice and network portability; availability of all cardholder verification (CVM) options; inclusion of point-of-sale and ATM transactions; support of contact and contactless transactions; ability to make future enhancements to the solution; inclusion of both current and emerging debit channels; and governance parity.
The group’s next steps will be to finalize its governance structure and identify commercialization steps for deploying the common U.S. debit solution.
“While this solution simplifies efforts for the industry, commercialization will take time,” said Hollen. “Given that EMV is being driven by liability shifts, not regulatory or network mandates, we recommend that issuers wait until 2014 before moving forward with their business case for EMV deployment in order to ensure that the market is ready.
“In the coming months, CO-OP will be providing guidance to our client credit unions in the form of multiple tools to help them determine their own roadmap for EMV. This will include tactical advice on upgrading ATMs, issuing debit cards with the common AID, what to do about credit, how to calculate the economics of switching to EMV and related fraud trends,” he said.
The group, working in conjunction with the EMV Migration Forum, defined the foundation requirements for the proposed U.S. debit solution. This decision will enable the industry to move forward with a known application and process, simplifying changes for all stakeholders. Supporting a common solution provides the following benefits to payment system participants for the next generation of debit card payment technology.
Unless all debit networks ultimately participate in this solution, industry stakeholders may need to support a multi-application chip environment for debit in the U.S. The group is inviting all debit networks to join the new consortium to adopt a common U.S. debit AID, minimizing the number of applications needed. The group maintains that establishing a standard common U.S. debit AID is the best way to avoid unnecessary complexity while achieving higher payment security.
CO-OP Financial Services will be hosting a free webinar on Tues., March 26, at 11 a.m. Pacific time on the latest developments concerning the EMV (Europay MasterCard Visa) standard. Those who would like to attend can register at
