TSYS And Pax Look To Simplify EMV Compliance Within Merchants’ POS Systems

Migrating point-of-sale systems to the EMV chip card standard is as much a herculean task as swapping out countertop POS terminals. Now processor Total System Services Inc. (TSYS) and POS-terminal maker Pax Technology Inc. say they have a product that can make the task easier for POS systems.

The product, which incorporates TSYS’s encryption and tokenization services, and a software development kit from Pax, should make it easier for merchants using Pax terminals and PIN pads to become EMV compliant and potentially reduce their obligations under the Payment Card Industry data-security standard (PCI).

TSYS says the service will help merchants using POS software, when connected to a Pax device, meet the Oct. 1 EMV liability shift date. That’s when the party to a general-purpose credit or debit card transaction that doesn’t support EMV chip cards, be it the issuer or merchant, will bear liability for any resulting counterfeit fraud.

Available now, the service is a way to take the POS software operating on a computer out of PCI scope, Andy Chau, Pax chief executive, tells Digital Transactions News. That’s because all of the payment data, whether the customer uses an EMV chip card, magnetic stripe card, or Apple Pay, is encrypted and tokenized within the Pax device and sent directly to TSYS for processing, Chau says. The only data sent to the POS software is the dollar amount. The SDK, which is one line of code, manages that element.

Indeed, security and PCI compliance weigh on merchants. A recent survey found that more than 90% of them cited security and PCI compliance as the top two factors for adding EMV-compatible POS equipment.

POS system developers, especially smaller ones like individuals writing programs for niche merchants, face big costs to maintain their software’s PCI compliance and make it EMV-compliant, Chau says. The average toolkit for EMV certification might cost as much as $40,000, he says. The TSYS/Pax service is available at no extra charge, other than buying a Pax POS device, he says.

The service’s strategy of simplifying EMV acceptance within POS systems makes sense, says Adil Moussa, principal at Adil Consulting, an Omaha, Neb.-based advisory firm. “The less a VAR or ISV has to do the better,” Moussa tells Digital Transactions News in an email, referring to value-added resellers and independent software vendors. “Their job is to focus on the software that they create.” Taking away some of that work is a boon for developers, he says.