In November 2025, EMVCo Associates gathered in Vienna, Austria to share technical knowledge and expert insights. In this post, Arman Aygen, EMVCo Director of Technology, outlines the key discussions that will shape the development of the EMV® Specifications in 2026 and beyond.
With transformative technologies accelerating change across the global payments industry, collaboration is integral to enabling seamless and secure payments experiences for consumers and merchants everywhere.
This sentiment was best encapsulated in a guest presentation by Petia Niederländer from the Austrian National Bank (OeNB), who highlighted that a changing monetary landscape and the emergence of new digital payment methods and infrastructure requires “coordinated efforts between all players along the payment chain.”
Importantly, such collaboration was on full display at EMVCo Technical Meeting in Vienna, with EMVCo Associates driving the discussion on emerging opportunities and challenges across the payments ecosystem:
How EMV Specifications can support agentic payments
Following valuable input from the Board of Advisors in Charleston in October, EMVCo announced that it is working on how EMV Specifications can be developed and enhanced to promote seamless and secure card-based agentic payments and increase trust and interoperability across the ecosystem. Attendees heard how the Digital Identity and Payment Task Force is looking into how EMV technologies such as EMV 3-D Secure (3DS), EMV Payment Tokenisation and EMV Secure Remote Commerce (SRC) could support agentic commerce.
An Associate presentation by Angel Romero from Fime also explored the emerging agentic payment ecosystem and the potential role that EMVCo can play in bridging the trust and interoperability gap. The convergence with digital identity was also examined in an Associate presentation by Gary Munro from Consult Hyperion, which considered how developments across the digital identity wallet ecosystem – particularly the need for an interoperable, consistent experience – could have implications for agentic commerce.
Enhancing the authentication experience with EMV 3DS
Discussions in Vienna emphasised the role that industry engagement and feedback is playing in shaping the ongoing enhancement of the EMV 3DS Specifications.
A dedicated panel featuring Gustavo Kok from Netflix and Andy Brock from Outseer explored opportunities to improve the browser-based out-of-band (OOB) authentication experience. The panel first highlighted the need to consider different user personas, and the potential barrier to adoption between more technology-savvy and less engaged cardholders. Panellists then mentioned the value of the latest dynamic white papers in clarifying use cases and understanding the EMV 3DS Specifications, highlighting how EMVCo has been working with merchants and issuers to publish recommendations that address known challenges when OOB authentication is initiated from a mobile browser to help increase approval rates.
Attendees also learned how, in response to industry feedback and to reflect recent changes and advancements across the e-commerce sector, EMVCo has updated its user interface (UI) / user experience (UX) recommendations. This includes work to enhance OOB authentication and the use of one-time passcodes, as well as supporting new considerations presented by digital wallets.
EMV SRC beyond e-commerce
Following the publication of Version 1.5 of the EMV SRC Specifications, EMVCo is now working to advance the EMV SRC – Click to Pay Customer Experience (CX) Guidelines to help promote a consistent, convenient and secure digital payment experience. Key updates include incorporating insights from consumer research to support the use of passkeys, as well as addressing the display of co-badged cards and enabling consumers to easily and actively consent to new terms and conditions.
Discussions were complemented by an Associate presentation from Olivier Mansart at Cartes Bancaires and Dr. Thomas Fromherz at G+D Netcetera, who examined the user experience considerations for co-badged cards. Nakjo Shishkov from G+D Netcetera provided a technical deep dive into how the use of enhancements to ‘federated identity’ in EMV SRC v1.5 can help enable a more consistent user experience through uniform card listing, while Dr. Thomas Fromherz also outlined potential synergies between Click to Pay and Credential on File solutions.
In addition to e-commerce, the use of EMV SRC to enable an interoperable open payment solution for electric vehicle (EV) charging has highlighted the broader applications of the technology. For example, EMVCo is now looking into the potential for EMV SRC to support road tolling and enabling merchants to create multiple payloads during a single transaction to promote flexible payment experiences. As more use cases arise, EMVCo is examining the opportunity to streamline the EMV SRC Specifications to simplify their use and aid industry understanding.
A reality check for quantum computing
Over the past decade, EMVCo has been engaging with leading academics, independent consultants, and a host of government bodies to chart developments in quantum computing and determine their potential impact.
Despite the considerable hype, EMVCo does not expect quantum computing to pose a practical threat to the EMV infrastructure before 2040 – maybe never. No one knows when, or even if, large-scale quantum computing will become a reality.
Still, EMVCo continues to monitor developments carefully and plans to host a dedicated Special Interest Meeting in 2026. The session will explore EMVCo’s recent position papers and facilitate deeper technical engagement with Associates and Subscribers to address feedback and questions on quantum computing and post quantum cryptography.
Enabling new in-person payment experiences
Advances shaping payments in the physical world were also on the agenda in Vienna. Attendees heard how EMVCo has worked to enable faster EMV Contact transactions, and an Associate Presentation by Laurent Buliard from Ingenico initiated a discussion on the implications associated with increasing the bit rate to also speed up EMV Contactless transactions.
In recent years, EMVCo has also explored the data, security and technical considerations posed by using technologies – including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) – to enable wireless payments. EMVCo continues to work in close collaboration with industry participants to evaluate the role that wireless technologies can play, and this was highlighted by a panel discussion featuring Jeffrey Cunningham from Amazon, Bjoern Scharfen from Infineon and Michael Stark from NXP, which focused on how the latest UWB Specifications from the FiRa Consortium and the growing adoption of UWB could help enhance payment experiences.
Join the conversation in 2026
As we approach 2026, EMVCo will be hosting the following meetings to continue the conversation on these topics – and more – with participants from across the EMV community:
- 10-11 March 2026 – Board of Advisors Meeting in Istanbul, Turkey
- 24 March 2026 – Special Interest Meeting: EMV Resilience to Quantum, Virtual
- 13-16 April 2026 – Technical Meeting in Singapore
- 09-10 June 2026 – EMV User Meeting in Salt Lake City, USA
- 13-14 October 2026 – Board of Advisors Meeting in Hong Kong
- 09-12 November 2026 – Technical Meeting in Vancouver, Canada
by Oliver Manahan