The adoption of smart card technology in North America is beset by a “chicken and egg” conundrum. To accept smart cards would require merchants to retool their card reading equipment even though the swiping of the magnetic stripe currently serves them well. Here is one way to get merchants to adopt smart card technology:
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The Bank of Montreal (BMO), announced today the launch of the Prepaid Travel Mosaik MasterCard, which they are promoting as an alternative to traveller’s cheques.
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EMV is a standard for authenticating credit and debit card payments when using chip cards (”smart cards”) and chip card capable POS terminals. This standard was originally developed by Europay, Mastercard and Visa (and hence the term “EMV”). The main benefit of EMV is improved security and a reduction in fraudulent card use.
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Last September, I reviewed Ronald Mann’s Charging Ahead. As I mentioned at the time, Mann discussed the policy implications of credit cards.
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Did you ever wonder what the search volume and news reference volume for various payment types are on the internet, how they compare to each other, and how they trend over time?
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Last week, Ronald Mann (University of Texas at Austin) announced the release of his book Charging Ahead:
“[Charging Ahead] provides a comprehensive look at the policy implications of credit cards, weaving together empirical analysis, historical information about the rise and global deployment of credit cards and debit cards, and incisive analysis of the policy implications of their use.”
Payments are big business. Total industry revenues are over $200 Billion, almost double the revenues of the entire airline industry. Payments Watch provides insight and analysis on payments industry news from around the world.
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