A November survey of more than 5,000 U.S. adults by merchant services provider Harbortouch, for example, found that one in five consumers thinks paying with an EMV card takes too long, and 67% believe swiping cards is the fastest way to pay.

Card issuers may start seeing efforts soon to speed things up, however. In April, Visa and MasterCard both issued terminal software updates that will allow consumers to dip and remove their EMV cards quickly rather than leave their cards in the terminal for the duration of the transaction. The distraction of handling the card sooner cuts the perceived amount of time to pay, according to Catherine Murchie, who is SVP of Enterprise Solutions for North America at MasterCard.

"The actual transaction time isn't that different," she said. "The transaction is going online and getting approved, but you're putting your card in your wallet, you're doing all these other things. You don't just stare at the terminal."

2. Faster card issuance

EMV has fueled a massive reissuance of credit and debit cards in the United States, and more cards are likely on the way. About a third of all U.S.-issued MasterCards did not have EMV chips as of the end of April, according to MasterCard. About two-thirds of all Visa cards issued as of the end of February also didn't have EMV chips, according to CreditCards.com.

That reissuance has strengthened a wave of interest in equipment that lets branches issue cards to members within minutes rather than days or weeks. In the last 12 months, more than 10.6 million chip cards have been issued in the U.S. using instant-issuance technology from Minneapolis-based Entrust Datacard, for example.

Entrust Vice President of Financial Vertical Ray Wizbowski estimates that about 1,000 credit unions now provide instant-issue to members; about half of them are equipped to issue EMV cards, he added.

Though the technology can run from $5,000 to $10,000 per branch, Entrust pointed to a recent Javelin study it commissioned that found cardholders are 22% more likely to be very to extremely satisfied with their financial institutions if they received an instantly issued card. Activation rates of instantly issued cards are as high as 100%, as opposed to the industry standard of approximately 60%, according to Javelin.

3. More scrutiny from lawmakers

Transition costs and delays in certifying EMV equipment have gotten the attention of at least one member of Congress, who has demanded answers from the consortium that sets EMV specifications and has called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the certification process.

In March, Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) sent a list of 10 questions to EMVCo Executive Committee Chairman Mike Matan regarding the influence of foreign card networks, merchant and small payment network representation on EMVCo leadership teams, and other matters regarding EMVCo's governance and operations. Durbin also asked whether two of EMVCo's six member organizations were sharing non-public information about EMV specifications, certification processes or other operations with the Chinese or Japanese governments.

In a second letter to EMVCo dated May 11, Durbin appeared unhappy with the organization's response and sent a second set of questions regarding its governance.

"In short, it appears that EMVCo is currently run by the big card networks for the big card networks," he wrote. "It is time for other stakeholders besides giant card networks to have a meaningful vote in EMVCo's decision-making and standard-setting process."

That same day, Durbin also wrote to FTC Chair Edith Ramirez asking for an investigation into the delays in the EMV certification process.

"Payment processors and other providers have been slow to conduct certifications for small- and medium-sized merchants; so far only a fraction of merchants who have sought certifications have been able to obtain them, and the merchants who have been stuck in the certification queue are at increased risk of being victimized by fraud because of their inability to use their chip readers," Durbin said.

Durbin gave the FTC 30 days to respond.