RESTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--New analysis from Mercator Advisory Group and Transaction Network Services (TNS) found that fuel and convenience retailers who fail to upgrade payment equipment at the pumps could face potential costs of, on average, $17,315 per site, or $207,780 over 12 months post liability shift.
Because full liability shifts to the party in the payment chain with the least secure payment technology once the April 2021 deadline passes, any fuel retailer who has not updated their AFDs to support EMV-certified chip readers will automatically lose a chargeback inquiry and be subject to additional compliance fees.
The estimate is based on a 12-location fuel enterprise with sites that are distributed across low, medium and high risk zones for card payment fraud and considers the cumulative impact of losses as the locations become targets for counterfeit card usage. Compounding the losses are the additional network penalties for excessive disputed transactions. The model takes a decidedly conservative approach to calculating the cost of the liability shift.
The full scale and size of this liability was unknown until recently, when Mercator — a trusted advisor to the global payments industry — performed a comprehensive, independent analysis and created a calculator that revealed the potential true costs of this shift.
“The liability shift could cost a significant portion of a retailer’s revenue, making it critical for owners/operators to upgrade now to gain more modern fuel dispensers, supported by the most advanced network connectivity technology, and reduce chargebacks,” said Brian DuCharme, Vice President, Product Management for Payments at TNS. “As more sites add EMV at the pump, fraudsters will likely focus on those pumps without EMV — and no retailer wants to become known by their customers as an easy target for fraud.”
To determine these costs, Mercator’s calculator integrates data points from independent research and surveys on existing fraud rates at service station locations and takes into account risk factors associated with each site. Mercator assumed a lower loss rate than the existing analyses and used that as a starting point for its calculator. It then took the lower rate and applied it to only high-risk locations, decreasing this rate for medium- and low-risk sites. The baseline number is for the first month following the liability shift, and for every month following, a concentration effect is applied.
“It should be noted that the numbers Mercator’s calculation found could change dramatically depending on the risk position of each station site,” said Tim Sloane, Vice President of Payments Innovation at Mercator. “Retailers should use the calculator to estimate their own liability based on the fraud risk for where their sites are located, which card schemes have posted on their websites.”
TNS is a certified managed network service provider (MNSP) by Gilbarco and Verifone and is a Level 1 PCI DSS certified provider. Its secure end-to-end solution — TNSLink — allows retailers to connect their payment terminals 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.
As a trusted partner to the payments industry, TNS offers a broad portfolio of secure commerce solutions that include parking reservations, unattended payments, point-of-sale (POS) services, ATM connectivity and secure managed processing. In 2020, TNS celebrates 30 years of being a provider to global companies in the most mission-critical industries. Many of the most prestigious financial institutions, POS ISOs, ATM deployers and transaction processors rely on TNS for secure and resilient connectivity.
ENDS
About Transaction Network Services:
Transaction Network Services (TNS) is a leading global provider of data communications and interoperability solutions. TNS offers a broad range of networks and innovative value-added services and is committed to delivering superior service and world-leading payments, financial services and telecommunications solutions to the world’s most prestigious companies.
Founded in 1990 in the US and headquartered in Reston, Virginia, TNS has secured a strong payments heritage and provides managed services in more than 60 countries spanning the Americas, Europe and the Asia Pacific region with its reach extending to many more. TNS is a Level 1 PCI DSS certified service provider, a member of CONEXXUS, and a global board member of the ATM Industry Association (ATMIA). For more information about TNS and its Payments solutions visit www.tnsi.com or go to our media center for our latest news www.tnsi.com/media-center/
