Visa to Make Chip Payments Feel as Fast as Swipes

Visa insists that EMV chip card transactions take no longer to process than magstripe transactions do, but it is aware that many consumers disagree.

The perception comes from the amount of time the chip card is left in the terminal; consumers who are used to a quick card swipe are impatient with the new process of leaving a card in the reader until the transaction is approved. The process seems longer, even if the overall time spent at the register hasn't changed.

In some cases, merchants are not accepting chip card payments and are returning to mag stripe payments to speed checkout. And the time and adjustment for EMV cards is considered an advantage for contactless mobile payment options such as Apple Pay.

To address concern over EMV checkout time, Visa is planning an alternate EMV payment process that will seem faster to the consumer.

"There are some ways that we can very easily replicate the experience that we've all become used to in the U.S.," said Stephanie Ericksen, vice president of risk products at Visa, during a panel discussion this week at SourceMedia's Card Forum and Expo.

"There's a way to put the card in, have it generate the cryptogram and pull the card out," she said.

Ericksen did not elaborate, noting that a formal announcement would come from Visa in the "next couple of days."

An audience member referred to this product as "Quick Chip," and at least one Visa brochure found online suggests that this is the same concept Ericksen described. The brochure was written for quick-serve restaurants, which place an emphasis on how fast they handle orders.