The total number of Visa credit and debit cards bearing an EMV chip numbered 408.1 million at the end of December, Visa announced Thursday. That’s a 2.1% increase from the 399.9 million tally at the end of November.
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Of the total, 219.4 million are debit cards and 188.7 million are credit cards. The number of merchants accepting EMV cards also increased to 1.81 million, representing 39% of all merchant locations. Visa says 82% of this figure are small and mid-size businesses that account for 49% of total payment volume.
Volume, too, continues to increase. In December, Visa said there were 945.3 million chip transactions, a 17.3% increase from 805.9 million in November. Payment volume made with Visa chip cards increased to $53.8 billion, a 22.8% increase from $43.8 billion in November. Visa says 96% of Visa credit card payment volume was made with a chip card in December.
Since the Oct. 1, 2015 point-of-sale liability shift, Visa has regularly provided updates on the EMV migration.
EMV chip cards were introduced as a means to combat counterfeit card fraud. Visa says there has been a 52% decrease in counterfeit fraud at chip-enabled merchants in September compared to September 2015. That’s an improvement from a 45% reduction in August 2016 versus August 2015
by: Kevin Woodward via digitaltransactions.net
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