Rolled out in France in early 2004, the EMV international smart card standard reached an important milestone at the end of last year. At 24th January 2005, 11.3 million CB cards, 40,533 ATMs, 224,000 Eftpos terminals and 58,000 retail points of acceptance had migrated to EMV. The rapid growth was achieved thanks to the efforts of all the stakeholders. In fact, manufacturers, maintenance companies, merchants and banks coordinated their efforts to shift the greatest volume possible of acceptance equipment to the new standard by 1st January 2005, the buffer date that had been set by the international networks. Some countries opted to migrate all their cards or all their Eftpos terminals first, France went down the track of switching all its cards, ATMs and Eftpos terminals simultaneously.
The challenge has been met!