Visa USA has made some recommendations for how to implement the shift from magnetic stripe payment cards to those which use a chip for authentication. And a Visa executive predicted the technology will have become a standard payment method by 2015.

The broadly written guidelines for implementing the technology are written for card issuers, chip card transaction acquirers, chip vendors, chip card vendors, chip terminal vendors and chip card personalization bureaus. Stephanie Ericksen, head of authentication product integration for Visa., explained they were aimed at both clearing up misconceptions about the technology and assisting in the first part of the brand's implementation plan.

The chief misconception that Visa appears primarily concerned with dispelling is that the new cards will carry both a chip and off-line personal identification number.