US, which has resisted adoption of smart cards/ chip cards, may win out with the potential to go straight to contactless cards.  The rest of the world will be left with expensive old style “dip” acquiring terminals, and ATM’s.

Card Technology, The Smart Card News Source

Representatives from EMVCo., the organization that maintains the standard, are meeting in Japan to better define the business requirements for a global standard covering contactless payments made with EMV-compliant cards.

“We’re hoping to have a fully stable position by the end of this year,” Simon Pugh, senior vice president of MasterCard Worldwide’s advanced payment solutions unit and a member of EMVCo.’s board of managers, tells Card Technology

Relevance to Bankwatch:
Given the scale of investment in the rest of the world, its unclear what the impacts of a shift to contactless will be.  But consumers will much prefer the option, when they recognise the speed, and convenience differential of contactless.

Technorati Tags: chip+cards, smart+cards, contactless+cards