Merchant FAQ’s

What are the benefits of chip?
The card will bring important benefits to merchants:

• Integrity – chip technology is more difficult to duplicate, therefore merchants can expect an increase in consumer confidence in the payment system and a decrease in fraud management costs.
• Innovation – chip technology will provide a platform for new product and service offerings and enable merchants to keep pace with the global movement in card payment technology.
• Efficiency – a single chip card can offer multiple applications, such as stored value and loyalty programs. With the move to PIN for credit, chip will also increase POS checkout speed, eliminate storing and paper charge slips and reduce disputes and chargebacks for unauthorized credit card transactions.

What do you mean by “greater speed and ease of use at the point of sale?”
Many chip–enabled transactions can be completed safely off–line, as the chip can be programmed with spending and usage limits making it possible to quickly and securely authorize transactions off–line and limit fraud losses. In other countries where chip has been implemented, merchants are also experiencing reductions in POS decline and referral rates.

Will old cards work on new terminals?
Yes. New terminals – featuring the EMV standard – are compatible with existing systems and cards.

Will chip transactions be more expensive for ATB merchants?
No.

Will merchants have a chip reader in their cash register, or will the point–of–sale (POS) machine be the only place that the chip can be read so the customer never has to give the merchant their card?
Chip transactions will be driven by the customer at the POS terminal because of the PIN number.

Additional Information
Common questions and answers