NFC & EMV Cards with Viking Payments
EMV & NFC Cards serve as the backbone for future payment technologies, and, once adopted here in the U.S., will drive continued growth. Unlike traditional magstripe technology that leverages magnetic stripes on cards to be swiped through a terminal, EMV/NFC technology uses a unique microprocessor chip inside each card for the payment device to read chip data as well as generates a dynamic data element making it virtually impossible to duplicate the transaction.
How do NFC Payments Work?
When both reader and payment devices are close together and activated, then there is an exchange of encrypted data from the NFC chips which complete the payment.
This process makes the checkout flow lightning-fast, thus making NFC payments as one of the most secure and convenient payment methods. This is the reason why NFC-powered payments such as Android Pay and Apple Pay are becoming a preferred payment option for consumers.
The contactless connection between the two devices is established with the help of radio waves which are similar to RFID labels that are used in warehouse, store, and other wireless tracking applications. NFC chips use a specific RFID frequency of 13.56MHz that works only when both the chips are placed very close to each other.
Many digital eWallet payment apps use NFC for added security as digital wallets only communicate with NFC readers when the user unlocks the app on the device and selects the payment card to be used for payment.
Another security feature of NFC is that the NFC readers connect with only one NFC payment device at a time. This eliminates all the possibilities of a nearby customer accidentally paying for someone else’s purchase.
NFC also allows its users to store multiple debit and credit cards on their mobile devices. With this, the users no longer need to carry cards in their wallets.
EMV deployment statistic
There are now over 10.81 billion EMV chip cards in circulation at the end of 2020. This is an increase of close to 10% over 2019.
In Q2 2021, according to information collected from American Express, Discover, JCB, Mastercard, UnionPay, and Visa, 88.55% of all chip card-present transactions in the world (both contact and contactless) – used EMV chip technology.
So, is the transition to EMV complete?
No, not yet. Globally in 2020, 66.4% of all issued payment cards in the world were EMV chip-based.
In the United States alone:
- Over 12 months (July 2019 – June 2020 to July 2020 – June 2021), EMV card-present transactions increased from 67.84% to 77,52%, so +14,2%.