We’ve blogged previously (see EMV Cardholder  Verification Methods) about the different types of cardholder verification that are supported by the EMV specifications for credit/debit card transactions using smart cards.

Prior to EMV migration in the United Kingdom, most transactions were verified by checking the cardholder’s signature, but the introduction of EMV allowed the chip on the card to be used for cardholder verification by “offline PIN” (without the need to upgrade the online infrastructure to support “online PIN” checking).

However, as the United States already supports online PIN (where the transaction is securely sent to the card issuer’s bank to be checked) there would not necessarily be a need for American merchants to also support offline PIN checking when undergoing EMV migration. Therefore to add support for EMV they could potentially upgrade their existing hardware by just fitting an additional EMV level 1 compliant card reader and then upgrade their software by adding an EMV level 2 kernel.

CreditCall’s EMV level 2 kernels are fully compliant with all the latest industry requirements, and provide a simple but powerful way to add EMV level 2 functionality to payment devices. Check out www.level2kernel.com for further details of these EMV kernels.

Related posts:

1. EMV Cardholder Verification Methods

Tags: Chip and PIN, EMV Kernel, US EMV