EMV
Also known as: EMV chip, Chip and PIN
EMV is the global set of specifications for chip cards and the terminals that read them, covering both insert and contactless payments. It is managed by EMVCo, which is owned by American Express, Discover, JCB, Mastercard, UnionPay and Visa.
Last reviewed
Example
When you insert a card and the terminal asks for a PIN, or tap it and a one-time code goes with the payment, EMV is doing the work.
Every time you insert or tap a card, EMV is doing the work.
The specifications are managed by EMVCo, which describes itself as "collectively owned by American Express, Discover, JCB, Mastercard, UnionPay and Visa". It publishes the standards and the testing processes around them. It does not run a payment network and it does not take a fee on your payment.
One family, several parts
EMV is not one document. EMVCo's page lists a family:
- EMV Contact Chip, for inserting a card.
- EMV Contactless Chip, for tapping a card or a phone.
- EMV 3-D Secure, for authenticating online card payments.
- EMV Payment Tokenisation, which replaces card data with a substitute value.
People often say EMV and mean only the chip. The chip is the oldest part.
What the chip changes
For contactless, EMVCo's description is plain: a one-time use security code is generated for every transaction. A thief who captures the data from one payment cannot replay it for the next.
That is the idea behind the chip: every payment carries data that is useless a second time. Online payments needed their own answer, which is why EMV also has a 3-D Secure specification.
EMV defines how a card and a terminal talk. It does not decide who pays what fee or who is liable. Those come from scheme rules and regulation, not from the chip.