Durbin and EMV: “Don’t panic”

by. Aleia VanDyke

This past week, I had the opportunity to speak at and attend the ATM, Prepaid, and Debit Forum in Las Vegas. The event featured a number of excellent keynote speakers, including representatives from MCX and its participating merchants, Wells Fargo, NACHA, and the top debit card issuers. But the most interesting keynote speaker session that I attended was the final session on Monday, featuring panelists from the top debit card networks in the U.S. Panelists included representatives from the full spread of debit networks, including MasterCard, Visa, PULSE, Star, NYCE, and the CO-OP Network. The topics they discussed – EMV and Durbin – came as no surprise. But their comments on the subjects were pretty shocking.

The Durbin amendment was clearly disliked by all members of the networks, who unanimously agreed that the legislation has had massive impacts on all aspects of the payment industry. The smaller networks heatedly warned against the dangers of Durbin and Judge Leon’s recent ruling that the Fed’s rules didn’t go far enough to meet the amendment’s requirements. But Visa’s response was far more simple and succinct: “Don’t panic” because changes can be managed.

Quickly, I noticed that many audience members whipped out their smartphones to begin tweeting this memorable quote. A major network saying don’t panic?! Has the world turned upside down?! Actually, Bob Whyte, Visa’s Head of Consumer Debit Products in North America, made some excellent points: Yes, Durbin has caused difficulties and networks need to maintain a contingency plan in order to be ready for the worst. But there’s no need to panic about the future of debit just now, as debit is still widely popular with consumers and these consumers aren’t privy to the regulatory fight going on in the background. Whyte made it a point to say, “You can’t anger the customers,” and I fully applaud him on his customer-focus and poise under pressure.

But the bigger Durbin-related discussion centered on the regulation’s impact on the looming implementation of EMV. Clearly, the networks were polarized on their view of EMV, with the smaller, U.S.-centric networks voicing skepticism of EMV, and the larger international networks showing support for chip and PIN technology. Here’s an overview of some of the more memorable lines from each network representative:

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