Debit EMV routing agreements pick up steam
by. Brandon Kuehl
Recent high-profile data breaches have accelerated debit networks’ interest in entering debit routing agreements with Visa and MasterCard. The ever-growing list of newly minted agreements is helping pave the way for EMV debit card acceptance in the United States.
Because the Durbin Amendment requires merchants to have a choice of routing options for debit card payments, debit networks must have access to a common application identifier (AID) for each card brand.
As more and more debit networks agree to participate in MasterCard and Visa’s common U.S. debit EMV solutions, debit issuers are better able to move forward with EMV planning. Overall, debit networks choosing to enter into partnerships with common debit solutions delivers issuers, acquirers and merchants an efficient, economical method for debit EMV chip adoption.
These agreements provide card issuers with the flexibility to select and implement network relationships and allow acquirers and merchants to route debit transactions as they choose. This can all be done without necessitating complex technology upgrades and multiple applications.
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