PSCU, a St. Petersburg, Fla.-based provider of financial services to credit unions, is releasing the first VISA Prepaid EMV cards in the U.S. this year. It will issue the cards through several PSCU credit unions later this summer.

EMV technology is making its way into the U.S. market. PSCU’s issuance of the prepaid EMV cards will make it possible for consumers to pay for purchases with a card, even in environments that don’t accept traditional magnetic stripe cards. The EMV cards offer enhanced card authentication, cardholder verification and transaction authorization.

This product will help credit unions meet VISA’s requirements for EMV issuance and avoid VISA’s liability shift to issuers, scheduled for 2015. The prepaid cards can be personalized or non-personalized, and they can be sold online or through branches. Consumers can load value onto the cards online, through IVR, at a branch, using debit or credit cards, transferring funds from checking or savings accounts or through direct deposit.

More than a dozen credit unions plan to offer prepaid EMV cards this fall.