Businesses Struggle to Meet EMV Deadline

The Oct. 1 EMV deadline is quickly approaching – yet many retailers are racing to this finish line with uncertainty if they will make it or not. In fact, a recent survey from Strawhecker Group revealed that only 27 percent of U.S. merchants will be EMV ready by the Oct. 1 liability shift. This same study identified that 44 percent of U.S. merchants are expected to adopt EMV by December 2015, however it will take an estimated 17 months for about 90 percent of merchants to be ready to accept chip-enabled credit cards. Keeping this in mind, the finish line to accept EMV cards seems to be further away than many had planned for – and as a result, becoming difficult to deal with.