EMV Transaction Processing for Beginners

Most of us have encountered EMV one way or another, but a few have ever given thought about what happens when a chip card is inserted into a point-of-sale terminal. In EMV, the learning process usually starts from the magnetic stripe data on a credit card. This and the insertion of additional information like encrypted sensitive data, certificates, and static data into the chip, an EMV personalized chip card is created that can execute an EMV transaction on an EMV capable terminal. With this in mind, this short non-technical introduction lecture is put together as a starting base for EMV. This lecture will cover the seven steps that make up a chip and pin transaction. The steps are Select Application, Initiate Application, Read Application Data, Risk Management, Terminal Action Analysis, Card Action Analysis, and Complete Transaction. Each of the steps is explained in a format that requires no technical background. Therefore, this first session in EMV is for people who are in the financial industry or have a general interest in what happens when an EMV chip card is inserted into a point-of-sale terminal. This lecture also provides a section on magnetic stripe standards that can be used as a quick reference guide if needed, and there are no prerequisites required to take this course.