Industry engagement and collaboration has never been more important. Reflecting on some of the significant achievements of 2020, we look ahead to another year of technical advancements and cross-sector collaboration.
2020 brought into sharp focus the need for flexible specifications in supporting innovation and addressing different marketplace needs. As payment behaviours change rapidly, industry engagement and collaboration has never been so important.
Integral to this as we move into 2021 are our EMVCo Associate and Subscriber Programmes. These bring together hundreds of organisations from around the world to contribute their knowledge and expertise to shape the development of future EMV® Specifications.
Last year, collaboration among these groups included work to support ‘touchless’ payment technology and new ways of making and accepting payments in-store. We held our highest ever number of Special Interest Meetings (SIMs), enabling deep dives into topics including EMV Payment Tokenisation, EMV 3-D Secure, EMV Secure Remote Commerce, and wireless technology.
Thanks to cross-sector collaboration, we were able to extend the benefits of EMV 3-D Secure to meet regulatory and industry demands and launch the Click to Pay icon to offer familiarity and confidence in a common, seamless and secure user payment experience.
These are just some of the significant technical milestones reached in 2020 and are a testament to the input provided, ideas brought and initiatives proposed by our Associate and Subscriber community.
In 2021, we will continue our close collaboration with these contributors, as well as technical bodies and industry associations around the world.
Our technical initiatives in 2021 include enhancements in cryptography, promoting innovation at the physical point-of-sale, and support for safe and convenient online payments.
While EMVCo’s goal is to resume face-to-face meetings, the global situation is uncertain and challenges undoubtedly remain. Continued engagement will be critical and we are committed to maximising online engagement and education opportunities with our technical development work, through a combination of virtual meetings, webinars, education sessions and conference activity.
We encourage the payments industry to continue its participation through these unique forums to provide feedback, comment and input, and look forward to working with Associates, Subscribers, industry partners and all other stakeholders to enable card-based payments to work seamlessly and securely worldwide.
Read more about our major milestones from 2020, and learn more about our key initiatives for 2021, in the EMVCo 2020 Annual Report.
by Oliver Manahan
by Clinton Allen