EMV chip card adoption has reached 88% since last year, according to MasterCard

MasterCard Inc. said on Wednesday 80% of its consumer credit cards in the U.S now have EMV chips, which the company said represents an 88% increase in chip card adoption since the last year's Oct. 1 chip card liability shift. The shift put the responsibility for fraud on merchants if customers have a chip card, but they don't use it. Chip cards, primarily when used with a pin number, are a more secure payment method than magnetic stripe. MasterCard also said it has 1.7 million chip-active merchants on its network, which would represent nearly 30% of the U.S. merchant population. MasterCard shares have dropped more than 2% in the year to date, underperforming the S&P 500 Index , which is up more than 5%.

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