2Touch and EMV

I am sure you have many questions about EMV and 2Touch.  What direction are we pointing in so that we meet the future payment processing needs of our customers?  It’s best if I first define the problem before I talk about how to solve it.

In 2015 magnetic swipe readers are an insecure means to process credit card transactions by comparison to chip technology (EMV). The US is low hanging fruit for fraud and our economic stability depends on securing our payment systems from hackers and thieves. In order to incent investment in EMV the credit card authorities are declaring merchants without it, who live through a fraudulent event, accountable for the losses. They call it a shift in liability and an “event” could be very expensive.

If you’re the type of person that likes to take a risk then don’t worry about spending money on EMV. You will still be able to accept credit cards and use your existing hardware.  On the other hand, if you like to mitigate your risks and appreciate the value of security then you’ll need to deploy new card readers  and be updated to the version of 2Touch that processes these cards.

EMV in the US is in its infancy stage. The hardware manufactures seem to have the retail transaction figured out quite easily. The EMV device attaches directly to the POS terminal; the customer swipes the card and enters their pin at the time of purchase.  This is straightforward.  

Sales transactions in a Bar, Restaurant or Nightclub don’t happen in exact proximity of the POS terminal. The POS terminal is either behind the bar or at the server’s station.  Payments are made by handing your card to the Bartender or Server, they bring the card to the terminal and swipe, a receipt is printed, returned to you for review and your signature. In that case, how is the pin entered?  To adapt this process, and get an EMV reader in proximity of the customer for pin entry, the reader is going to have to be accessible to the customer. We think the reader needs to be mobile.

We are currently working with several hardware providers and will be sure to announce what our EMV offering ultimately looks like.  In the end, it should be low impact. Limited to the purchase of EMV readers and updating your version of 2Touch to accept EMV trsansactions.