MONTVALE, N.J. — The U.S. — and credit union — migration to EMV just got a push forward with the formation of the Debit Network Alliance, a new organization comprised of 10 leading U.S. PIN debit networks.
The alliance, announced Wednesday, provides a structure for the governance, deployment and implementation of the debit EMV standard in the U.S. The founding networks are: AFFN, ATH, CO-OP Financial Services, Jeanie, NETS, NYCE, Presto!, PULSE, SHAZAM and STAR.
The move helps to address concerns over a roadblock to U.S. EMV adoption: Chip cards are not set up to accept multiple unaffiliated payments networks, and while Visa and MasterCard have made inroads on a solution, a need exists to create a streamlined approach to routing U.S. chip debit transactions.
"Formation of the Debit Network Alliance further advances a common U.S. debit AID (application identifier) and its harmonized profiles and parameters," said Stan Hollen, president/CEO of CO-OP Financial Services, Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. "This is extremely important to credit unions because it preserves their routing and network choices in connection with the emerging EMV standard."
Hollen added that while the common U.S. debit AID provides interoperable adoption of chip and PIN debit payments to the entire industry, "This will still take time, particularly in light of the recent judicial proceedings concerning the Durbin Amendment."
Paul Tomasofsky, executive director of the Alliance, said, "The formation of the Debit Network Alliance is a continuation of the great cooperation that the founding networks have had since coming together in April 2012. We believe that debit chip solutions in the U.S. must be governed by all U.S. debit networks, in a manner that benefits industry stakeholders and supports the levels of flexibility and innovation necessary to maintain a healthy and robust U.S. payment system."
Tomasofsky noted that the Alliance is prepared "to work with all payment networks to define business terms, technical requirements and legal agreements required for industry stakeholders to realize the benefits of a single, common standard. Once these are in place, the industry can truly move forward with EMV in the U.S."
