Visa is urging card issuers to adopt chip cards instead of cards relying on magnetic stripes after a slew of retail stores' data breaches, including Target and Neiman Marcus.
Chief Executive Officer Charles Scharf emphasized the importance of switching over to EMV chip cards and tokenization in a statement discussing quarterly earnings.
A microchip on EMV cards stores customer information, making them more secure because skimmers cannot gain access to the data, according to Forbes. Tokenization replaces sensitive data with symbols that are harder to hack and decipher. Additionally, both security measures are harder to replicate in counterfeit cards.
Although the switch would be costly, Scharf said it's necessary. He also mentioned that Visa will push new advertising to ensure consumers know the protections their credit cards offer.
