US merchants will be able to speed up their EMV migration thanks to a partnership between First Data, a leader in payment technology and services solutions, and safety consulting and certification firm UL.
Through the collaboration, First Data’s mid and large-sized merchant clients will have access to a customized version of UL’s EMV test tools and certification platforms. This will help them handle the migration efficiently through onboarding and setup, testing, pre-approval and validation services.
UL’s solution will provide merchants with integrated point-of-sale (POS) systems with a one-stop EMV migration and certification platform for all major payment networks.
Combining UL’s accredited testing tools and centralized certification management platforms simplifies the acceptance of EMV-enabled debit and credit cards and eliminates the inefficiencies in the existing certification process to several end-points and certification authorities.
“The integration of EMV technology is a massive operational undertaking for our merchant clients across the country,” said Steve Mathison, Vice President of Payment Acceptance at First Data.
“Coupled with a multi-layered security program that includes tokens and encryption, EMV adoption will greatly reduce the threat of fraudulent payments at the point of sale, but the implementation can be complex and burdensome. We believe this collaboration with UL will help to simplify the process a merchant must complete to certify compliance with EMV standards.”
First Data’s kicks off efforts by stakeholders to prep for the October 2015 deadline for merchants to comply with the EMV standard, which seeks to step up security and prevent data theft in the payment card space.
Sherif Samy, Commercial Director for UL Transaction Security in North America added, “CertPro is a comprehensive, one-stop solution for First Data’s merchants. This includes EMV education and training through UL’s training academy, test automation through accredited testing tools, CertPro certification management platform, and a dedicated expert services organization to guide merchants and ISVs through their EMV migration and certification projects.”