ATMIA: ATM deployers in Canada buckle down for massive security mandates
Tracy Kitten editor | ATMmarketplace.com

TORONTO — Despite the economy, independent ATM deployers in Canada made the investment this week to attend the ATM Industry Association's annual Canadian show.  Attendance numbers for the regional conference hit a three-year high, organizers say — up an estimated 20 percent to 25 percent from 2007 and highlighted by a number of first-time attendees. Attendance topped out at 135, rivaling the conference's best-attended event in 2005, when nearly 200 attendees made their way to the show.

Perhaps Canada's push for upcoming anti-money-laundering regulation and looming deadlines for EMV compliance spurred interest among IADs, which now more than ever are looking to industry associations such as ATMIA to lend a hand and a voice.

The conference theme, "Turning Challenges into Business Opportunities," could not be more fitting, or timely, says Gary Ferris, an independent financial services consultant and the show's emcee. IADs in particular are being called to change the way they view and do business, he said.

From a security perspective, Interac, which recently announced plans to become a private, for-profit entity, is pushing IADs against the wall, say independent operators Clifford Richstone and Chris Chandler. Interac, as Canada's primary ATM and POS network, has a stronghold on the market. And mandates passed down by Interac must be complied with.

Having a single network has its benefits and drawbacks, industry insiders agree.

From an EMV and compliance perspective, a single point of contact has been advantageous, says Wendy Macpherson of Interac. The country's ongoing conversion from the magnetic strip to chip and PIN has been relatively painless, because Interac has been able to set deadlines, guidelines and mandates without the need for a lot of collaboration between networks, switches and processors — collaboration that will be a necessity in the United States, should the U.S. ever take the EMV plunge.

In fact, the United States' diversity and complex infrastructure of networks, processors, etc., is often blamed for its resistance to EMV migration. That market complexity, experts like Macpherson argue, likely has left many U.S. FIs disillusioned about how much ATM and debit-card fraud is actually impacting them.

"With so many small FIs and networks, I think there could be more fraud in the U.S. than the banks realize," she said.

Continue Reading at ATM Marketplace

Interac, ATMIA, ATM