EMV is an acronym that stands for Europay, MasterCard® and Visa®. They are the founding companies for chip card technology. EMV is a payment application that resides in a computer chip embedded in a credit or debit card. The application specifications were developed by Europay, MasterCard®, and Visa® in order to help fight fraud. The specifications define a set of requirements that ensure compatibility between payment chip cards and card terminals.

The term “EMV” and “chip card” are interchangeable.

EMV has been widely used in Europe for many years, and the U.S. card issuers are now taking steps to make EMV the standard payment application for enhanced card security. The adoption of EMV will require financial institutions, payment networks, card issuers, payment processors, and businesses to make substantial changes to card issuing, transaction authorization and related processes as well as point-of-sale and/or ATM equipment.