A directive from Visa Inc. earlier this month designed to motivate merchants to support the EMV chip card standard for U.S. cards and payment terminals may spark a cottage industry in EMV training seminars and consulting. EMV, which stands for Europay, MasterCard and Visa, is a global standard for the inter-operation of computer chips on payment cards.
A group of payments-industry experts have formed the EMV Training Academy, which will support the U.S. and Canadian migrations to EMV chip card technology, according to an Aug. 30 press release.
The Pasadena, Calif.-based enterprise plans to offer “a broad range of EMV training courses, test tools and consultancy services” to banks, credit unions, merchant acquirers, issuers, card manufacturers and others, encompassing contact and contactless payments as well as near-field communication technology (a short-range wireless communication standard that’s being tested in several contactless mobile payment trials).
The firm will draw on experience its principals gained beginning 12 years ago when its customers and partners collaborated to “pioneer” EMV technology in Europe, Stewart Chalmers, EMV academy director, said in the release.
Visa’s announcement spurred a realization that “our EMV training roadmap and rollout must be accelerated to support the industry’s migration,” Gregg Smith, academy co-founder, noted in the release.
EMV Academy plans to offer one-day and two-day chip-card training classes and three-day classes covering “EMV, contactless and NFC mobile fundamentals” as well as custom classes for groups, the release states.
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