Aite Group had it partly right. That is one way to interpret clarifications received from MasterCard regarding its policies on EMV transactions and ATMs.

“U.S.-based ATMs will have to take EMV cards as of April 19, 2013,” MasterCard Worldwide spokesperson Seth Eisen said in an interview Wednesday afternoon.

He clarified that there would not necessarily be pressures on U.S. card issuers to issue EMV cards.

“We are continuing to collaborate with issuers on EMV in the U.S. We are collaborating on timelines,” said Eisen who indicated no firm decisions had been made.

In an email, Eisen offered additional clarification: “On September 1, MasterCard announced it will extend its existing EMV liability shift program for inter-regional Maestro ATM transactions, as part of an effort to align technology efforts to prevent and manage fraud.

“The liability shift will cover both the United States and Asia-Pacific regions and will be effective on April 19, 2013, with the exception of Australia and New Zealand, where the liability shift will become effective on December 31, 2015. South Asia (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka) will continue to be excluded from the inter-regional ATM EMV liability shift program. It should be noted that liability shift already applies for Europe, Canada and the Middle East and Africa and will be completed for Latin America by end of October 2012.”

EMV chips – where the initials stand for Europay, MasterCard, and Visa – are increasingly important in credit card transactions overseas, where some card readers cannot process traditional magnetic strip cards.

A handful of credit unions – notably led by the United Nations Federal Credit Union – are piloting EMV adoption in the United States.