Discover Financial Services has certified payments testing software provider Acquirer Systems to provide EMV service for its customers in U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Dublin-based Acquirer Systems, which delivers enterprise testing and validation for the payments industry, will meet the EMV contact and contactless payment requirements outlined in Discover's D-Payment Application Specification (D-PAS), according to a July 13 press release.
Merchants, value added resellers, acquirers and payment processors in the U.S. can now use Acquirer Systems certification service to certify for the acceptance of Discover branded cards.
The Acquirer Systems approach ensures certification at the first attempt, with fewer resources, at a time and speed that suits the client, the company said. The process also eliminates the need for specialized EMV resources or to schedule access to the acquirer host environment.
Merchants face a liability shift on Oct. 1 if they are not prepared to accept EMV chip cards at the point of sale. After that date, the party not able to handle EMV cards becomes liable for any costs related to fraudulent transactions.
The cloud-based offering cuts certification time from weeks to days, while supporting Discover-approved third-party test tools to complete Acquirer Systems' own terminal test software SCIMatix.
In obtaining Acquirer Systems services, Discover can offer end-to-end merchant certification services, Ellie Smith, head of Chip Center of Excellence at Discover, said in the release. This addition expands the services available to acquirers and merchants in the market, supporting Discovers ongoing efforts to streamline certification and deployment processes for EMV, Smith said.
Discover's commitment deepens a relationship between the companies while "enabling a faster and more efficient approach to certification," Fergal Molloy, CEO of Acquirer Systems, stated in the release.
We believe our approach to delivering certification and compliance services will be radically transformed by our cloud technology," Molloy said. "This opens the way for self-certification, with a lower operating cost profile, and more comprehensive test coverage to deliver better quality products to the market."
Acquirer Systems clients include Bank of America, First Data, TSYS, Elavon, SwissCard and Standard Bank of South Africa. The company has more than 100 installations across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
