Fiserv Inc., a provider of technology and systems to financial institutions, announced on Friday that it will begin personalizing chip payment cards based on the EMV standard.

"As the U.S. payments industry looks for ways to minimize card-related fraud loss and comply with new data security standards, EMV provides a next-generation alternative to magnetic stripe bank cards," said Jorge Diaz, president, Output Solutions, Fiserv.

According to EMVCo, the organization responsible for managing the EMV specifications globally, approximately one billion EMV cards have been issued worldwide and 15.4 million point-of-sale terminals accept EMV cards.

"Increasingly, U.S. travelers abroad find that their magnetic stripe bank cards are rejected," said Diaz. "This leads to embarrassing and compromising situations that can now be avoided with EMV chip cards. Along with greater convenience and merchant acceptance, cardholders may also benefit from reduced card fraud."

The adoption of dual-interface chip technology also helps prepare the U.S. payment infrastructure for the arrival of near-field communication (NFC) mobile payments by building the necessary infrastructure to accept and process chip transactions that support either a signature or PIN at the point of sale, according to a company press release.

"Fiserv is committed to delivering the payments technology that our clients want now, while anticipating what they will need in the future," said Diaz. "In 2012, Fiserv will also implement solutions to process EMV transactions."

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