Quick Chip helps streamline entire chip implementation, enabling merchants to become chip-ready in less than one week

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Earlier this year, Visa announced Quick Chip, a technology enhancement that optimizes EMV®¹ chip card processing to not only speed up checkout times, but also significantly streamline chip implementation.

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Index, a leading retail software company that combines secure payments, measurement, and personalization, has deployed the first implementation of Quick Chip in the United States at New Leaf Community Markets, a chain of seven natural grocery stores in Northern California. New Leaf customers can now insert and remove their chip card from store payment terminals in about two seconds.

In addition to accelerating chip card transactions, Quick Chip also enables faster deployment of EMV chip systems for retailers. Working with Index, New Leaf’s Quick Chip implementation took just seven days, providing a streamlined approach that made it possible to speed through development, terminal testing, and certification.

Following the successful Quick Chip launch at New Leaf, Index plans to activate at other retail merchant partners – in some cases getting merchants up and running overnight, when just a remote software upgrade is all that is needed.

“Quick Chip was astoundingly straightforward to execute,” said Joseph Koenig, partner technology manager, Index. “We are now working to activate Quick Chip for our other retailer clients, either as part of a new chip solution or a software upgrade to their existing chip system.”

“Index and New Leaf’s experiences demonstrate that it’s possible to implement chip systems that deliver a fast and convenient consumer experience, stronger security, and protection against counterfeit fraud, in a matter of days—not weeks or months,” said Stephanie Ericksen, vice president, Risk and Authentication Products, Visa Inc. “Even more important than transaction speed is the ability to build, test, and deploy entire merchant chip solutions so quickly. The opportunity for more merchants to become chip-enabled and protect themselves against counterfeit fraud liability without delays is significant.”

“The upgrade to Quick Chip was fairly invisible from our perspective,” said Brendan Lazarus, IT manager, New Leaf Community Markets. “Once we decided to move forward, working with our partner Index, the process moved quickly. We appreciate the responsiveness of Index in cracking the code on this technology quickly so we can make our customers’ checkout experience better and faster.”

The Quick Chip specification is available free-of-charge to payment processors, acquiring banks, and other payment networks to offer to merchants. The upgrade streamlines the processing of chip card transactions to enable customers to dip and remove their EMV chip card from the terminal without waiting for the transaction to be finalized. The enhancement requires only a software update to the merchant’s payment terminal or point of sale system.

About Visa Inc.: Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable electronic payments. We operate one of the world's most advanced processing networks — VisaNet — that is capable of handling more than 65,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for consumers and assured payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa's innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: pay now with debit, pay ahead of time with prepaid or pay later with credit products. For more information, visit usa.visa.com/about-visa, visacorporate.tumblr.com and @VisaNews.

About Index: Index, based in San Francisco, is a leading retail software company that combines secure payments and personalized marketing to transform offline retail. Index provides a semi-integrated payments solution and fully hosted gateway for turnkey EMV, point-to-point encryption (P2PE) and processing flexibility. Its unique point-of-sale (POS) integration enables retailers to build an account for every shopper, unify customer profiles across channels, drive opt-in to deliver personalized marketing, and optimize every campaign. For more information, visit www.index.com.

About New Leaf: A natural grocery company with seven stores, New Leaf has been serving the community for over 30 years. New Leaf is committed to offering customers choices that have the most beneficial impact on their health and the health of the environment. Helping customers make informed decisions is an integral part of this commitment. A wholly owned subsidiary of New Seasons Market since November 2013, New Leaf is the first grocer in California to achieve B Corporation certification, which means that New Leaf uses the power of business to solve social and economic problems. New Leaf’s mission, to nourish and sustain our community, is reflected in the 10 percent of profits given annually to support local nonprofits working to improve the quality of life. For more information, visit www.newleaf.com.

¹ EMV is a registered trademark in the U.S. and other countries, and is an unregistered trademark in other countries, owned by EMVCo

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Source: Visa Inc.