The Smart Card Alliance Contactless and Mobile Payments Council announced that it will focus on educating the public on the security benefits of chip card technology and how it can possibly reduce fraud in the U.S. 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.
This year, the Council developed 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. 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 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
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