M/Chip fast from MasterCard speeds EMV transactions and shoppers through checkout

MasterCard unveiled M/Chip Fast, a new application of the company’s existing technology to help speed EMV transactions and shoppers through checkout lines. Developed on the principles of contactless or ‘tap-and-go’ technology, M/Chip Fast effectively prioritizes the parts of transactions that are critical to security. Cardholders can expect to experience speeds closer to the familiar magnetic stripe transactions with the added security of EMV.

M/Chip Fast is designed for select environments where fast transaction times, in addition to security, are at a premium. A shopper inserts his or her card into an M/Chip Fast-enabled terminal. „As with standard EMV, M/Chip Fast provides counterfeit fraud protection by creating a unique code for each transaction. Once the code is generated, the card can be removed from the reader with the goal of both decreasing the processing time of the transaction and reducing the cardholder perception of a longer wait at checkout.”, according to the press release.

Expanding on this solution, MasterCard called for the industry to activate current action-oriented forums like the Payments Security Taskforce and the EMV Migration Forum to align behind a common approach to address perceptions of speed of a chip card transaction.

“Ultimately, we all want to deliver great experiences for consumers and merchants,” said Ajay Bhalla, president of enterprise risk and security for MasterCard. “That’s why we believe that M/Chip Fast or any similar product should be implemented in consultation with the industry. With that holistic view, interested merchants can easily integrate this with their current systems to provide both speed and security for all chip cards.”

“The need for speed at checkout is important for the consumer experience,” said Patty Walters, head of security products at Vantiv. “Innovations like M/Chip Fast will help balance significant improvements in payments security with technologies that can help merchants accelerate the flow of their checkout lanes. We look forward to helping implement new technologies – like this – that help accelerate the EMV process.”

There has been steady momentum in the adoption of chip technology in the United States since the liability shift went into effect in October 2015. Today, more than two-thirds – 67 percent – of U.S.-issued MasterCard-branded consumer credit cards feature chips. This represents a 51 percent increase in a six-month window. Consumers can use their chip cards in more places, as 1.2 million U.S. merchant locations – an increase of 121 percent – have turned on their terminals and are accepting chip card payments.