MasterCard has proposed the formation of a cross-industry group designed to foster collaboration and alignment between all stakeholders in the coming move to EMV “chip and pin” technology in the United States.

“We recognize that this next step toward a world beyond cash has raised a number of questions among our customers from baseline standards to timelines and implications,” says Chris McWilton, MasterCard’s president of US markets. “Industry collaboration has proven to be critical to the successful migration to EMV in other parts of the world.”

The cross-industry group, representing networks, issuers, merchants, acquirers, processors, terminal manufacturers, card manufacturers and other stakeholders would focus on key areas including:

• Providing guidance on non-proprietary technical issues and standardizing the consumer experience
• Creating a set of common terms, descriptions and guidelines for EMV-enabled cards, devices and terminals
• Sharing and implementing best practices to simplify the implementation and consumer education processes

Initial discussions around forming the proposed group have already started, says the payments network.

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