MasterCard Approves CPI and Inside Secure's EMV-Chip Cards

MasterCard has approved a pair of EMV-chip cards jointly developed by Inside Secure and CPI Card Group.

The cards, offered under the M/Chip Advance EMV product line, are designed to meet the specific requirements of the U.S. market as it migrates to the EMV standards. One card is optimized for online-only EMV card programs, while the other supports both online and offline payments. Both products can be supplied on cards with gold and palladium contacts.

CPI sells card production, EMV chip and mobile technology. Inside Secure develops semiconductors and embedded software for payments transactions. Inside Secure also sells VaultSecure IC, a secure element that allows third parties to install and control their own applications on a card chip.

The two companies worked with Datacard Group, which sells card issuance and personalization technology to financial institutions and government agencies. Datacard has updated its printer technology to accommodate EMV-chip cards.

"We have worked closely with CPI, MasterCard and Datacard and incorporated the expertise and experience of these payment card industry leaders to ensure that these new products will meet U.S. issuers' expectations and make their migration as easy as possible," said Bernard Vian, executive vice president for the Secure Payment Division at Inside Secure, in a release.

The card networks have imposed a series of liability shift deadlines on most U.S. merchants to migrate to the EMV standards by 2015. EMV cards are designed to be safer from card counterfeit fraud than magnetic stripe cards, though some merchants have complained that added security benefit does not outweigh the cost of upgrading to EMV terminals.

"This milestone by Inside Secure and CPI represents another step toward the successful migration to EMV in the U.S.," said Carolyn Balfany, senior vice president, U.S. Product Delivery for MasterCard, in a release.