Visa Modifies EMV Debit Routing Rules

SAN FRANCISCO — In an effort to help merchants better understand implementation options related to the adoption of Europay, MasterCard and Visa (EMV) chip technology in the U.S., Visa has modified and clarified existing debit network routing rules. These changes come following new guidance issued from the Federal Reserve and address a Federal Trade Commission inquiry.

According to Visa, when its debit cards are presented at the point of sale, routing and processing are enabled by two payment application identifiers (AIDs) on the chip: the U.S. Common Debit AID or the Visa Debit AID. The Common Debit AID can support any of the more than one dozen domestic debit networks that issuers can choose to offer in addition to Visa Debit. This provides merchants with the ability to select the network over which a debit transaction is processed or routed.

Drug store retailers are not required to ask the cardholder to choose the AID or network for processing debit transactions. They can continue to automatically ask, or prompt, a Visa cardholder to enter a PIN on in-person transactions, provided the cardholder can still use their card without a PIN if they prefer.

"RILA applauds the FTC and Federal Reserve for moving to quickly address this latest attempt by Visa to prevent competition in the payments market. Fish instinctively swim, the sun always rises in the East, and without watchful regulators Visa will always use its market power to act in anticompetitive ways,” said Austen Jensen, Vice President of Government Relations at the Retail Industry Leaders Association.

More information from Visa about the changes can be found here.