PRINCETON JUNCTION, NJ, October 13, 2009 – Educating on the security benefits of chip card technology, and the possibilities for it to reduce fraud in the U.S. payments industry will continue to be the top priorities for the upcoming year, the Smart Card Alliance Contactless and Mobile Payments Council announced today. The Council also announced its new officers and steering committee.



The Council’s recent educational efforts included support for a position paper, End-to-End Encryption and Chip Cards in the U.S. Payments Industry, which proposes using chip card technology to protect cardholder data and reduce fraud. With contactless cards and acceptance terminals already widely deployed in the United States, the paper discusses the fraud-reducing benefits of contactless chip cards, including a dynamic cryptogram with each transaction that stops card counterfeiting, a major source of fraud. Furthering the adoption of chip cards is an idea that builds on infrastructure already in place, and meets globally interoperable EMV standards over time.



“This position paper was a success in bringing to light the security advantages of contactless chip cards, and how they can be used with the current acceptance infrastructure to reduce fraud,” said new Contactless and Mobile Payments Council Chair Charles Walton, INSIDE Contactless. “Our priority for the upcoming year is to keep this discussion active, and to delve more deeply into the subject and provide further resources. A new white paper is in process that gets into more details on why, and how, chip card technology can really lower payments fraud in the United States.”



This year, the Council developed many educational resources on contactless and NFC proximity mobile payments, as well as documenting research and best practices for implementation of the technologies. This includes conducting a workshop on NFC and mobile payments at CTIA Wireless 2009 and publishing the white papers, “What Makes a Smart Card Secure?”,“Issuer and Merchant Best Practices: Promoting Contactless Payments Usage and Acceptance,” and “Security of Proximity Mobile Payments.”



The Council also conducted a webinar series in partnership with the Electronic Transactions Association (ETA). The four webinars in the series covered the most critical issues surrounding smart cards in payments – basics of the technology, mobile payment and NFC, implementation, and security.



“The Council has proven itself the most dependable source of information on contactless and mobile payments technology and implementation,” said Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Smart Card Alliance. “The Council not only provides the most recent information about the state of the industry, but is always asking ‘what’s next?’ and developing the resources that stakeholders need to move the technology forward into the future.”



The Contactless and Mobile Payments Council is made up of over 120 individuals from 45 organizations, including card issuers, payment brands, merchants, financial payment processors, terminal vendors, card manufacturers, chip vendors, systems integrators/consultants, and personalization bureaus. The new officers are:

• Chair: Charles Walton, INSIDE Contactless


• Vice Chair: Ron Pinkus, Giesecke & Devrient


• Secretary: James F. Lock III, JPMorgan Chase

Members of the 2009/2010 Steering Committee are:

• Willy Dommen, Booz Allen Hamilton


• Troy Bernard, Discover Financial Services


• Jack Jania, Gemalto


• Sri Chawla, IBM


• Ken Moy, MasterCard Worldwide


• Paul Korczak, MTA NYC Transit


• Garfield Smith, Oberthur Technologies


• Dan Loomis, VeriFone


• Simon Hurry, Visa IncMohammad Khan, ViVOtech

The complete library of Contactless and Mobile Payments Council resources can be found at http://www.smartcardalliance.org/pages/activities-councils-contactless-payments.



About the Smart Card Alliance Contactless and Mobile Payments Council



The Contactless and Mobile Payments Council is one of several Smart Card Alliance technology and industry councils. The Council was formed to focus on facilitating the adoption of contactless and mobile payments in the U.S. through education programs for consumers, merchants and issuers. The group is bringing together financial payments industry leaders, merchants and suppliers. The Council’s primary goal is to inform and educate the market about the value of contactless and mobile payment and work to address misconceptions about the capabilities and security of contactless technology. Council participation is open to any Smart Card Alliance member who wishes to contribute to the Council projects.



About the Smart Card Alliance



The Smart Card Alliance is a not-for-profit, multi-industry association working to stimulate the understanding, adoption, use and widespread application of smart card technology.



Through specific projects such as education programs, market research, advocacy, industry relations and open forums, the Alliance keeps its members connected to industry leaders and innovative thought. The Alliance is the single industry voice for smart cards, leading industry discussion on the impact and value of smart cards in the U.S. and Latin America. For more information please visit http://www.smartcardalliance.org.



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