Fuel Retailers Must Act Quickly on EMV or Incur Sizable Costs, According to Upcoming TNS and Mercator Webinar

The liability shift deadline for EMV compliance is fast approaching, and convenience and fuel retailers that need to upgrade their forecourt and other payment systems are invited to attend an instructional webinar offered by Transaction Network Services (TNS) in partnership with Mercator Advisory Group, the trusted global advisor to the payments industry.

The July 28 webinar — which will be moderated by Ryan McEndarfer, Editor in Chief of PaymentsJournal, and presented by Brian DuCharme, Vice President of Product  Management at TNS, and Tim Sloane, Vice President of Payments Innovation at Mercator — will help educate retailers on why waiting too long to upgrade their equipment could cost them big.

“Retailers realize that after April 2021, full liability shifts to the party in the payment chain with the least secure payment technology — meaning those who have not upgraded their automated fueling dispensers (AFD) equipment with EMV payment readers will pay for chargebacks from counterfeit cards,” DuCharme said. “We plan to offer clarity on what that means in real dollars, and this webinar will help store owners understand just how much they could be responsible for, especially as fraud will concentrate on the locations not upgraded.”

Mercator’s comprehensive, independent analysis found this increased liability following the deadline will result in mounting costs for retailers, with monthly losses stemming from chargeback fees, product loss and network non-compliance assessment fees.

“Mercator’s calculator estimates the liability shift of EMV at the pump to be more than $200,000 in the first year for owners of 12 sites located in high, medium and low risk areas,” Sloane said. “This is a notably conservative view of the liability shift that uses a model built around certain facts (e.g., average losses, risk of site location); straightforward assumptions (e.g., variable losses, factors contributing to a loss beyond fuel); and reasonable conclusions, such as combined risk factors, time and a first-year liability estimate.”

In addition to more specifics on how these numbers were calculated, the webinar will help retailers understand how they can apply the findings to their own business and use the TNS-Mercator Risk Calculator to estimate their level of risk — including the associated costs. The webinar will run approximately 40 minutes, including a question-and-answer session.

Register for the webinar and learn more here.

TNS is certified as a Managed Network Service Provider (MNSP) by Gilbarco and Verifone and is a Level 1 PCI DSS certified service provider. Retailers can use TNSLink to connect their payment terminals securely and cost-effectively to TNS’ global payments community to support multiple payment applications, improve uptime and increase productivity. TNSLink leverages TNS’ global presence and established connectivity with more than 400 payments systems, delivering secure and reliable managed services, supported 24x7x365 from three global Network Operating Centers.