Only 27% of US merchants will be EMV-ready by the October liability shift, representing a seven percentage point decline from a 34% estimation in March, research from The Strawhecker Group (TSG) reveals. “By December 2015, 44% of US merchants are expected to adopt EMV, however, EMV-readiness will not reach a threshold of at least 90% until 2017 — more than 15 months after the shift,” the company says.
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The issue is not the number of merchants but the number of cards and transactions. Merchants can read. The contract says that they are liable only if the card is EMV and they are not EMV equipped. They can also count; they are not counting many EMV cards.