A method for initiating an EMV transaction using a payment instrument, comprising: receiving, by a processor, a transaction request comprising a payment token and a Europay, Mastercard and VISA, EMV, payment application uniform resource identifier, URI, wherein the transaction request is generated by a merchant point of sale, PoS, in response to a payment instrument interfacing with the merchant PoS, wherein the payment instrument comprises a local EMV payment application, and the merchant PoS comprises a merchant PoS kernel, wherein the local EMV payment application is configured to interact with the merchant PoS kernel to initiate the transaction, and wherein the payment token and URI correspond to a remote EMV payment application that is selected by the local EMV payment application based on a transaction account selected by a user to be used for the transaction during said interaction; wherein the EMV payment application URI comprises a string of characters identifying a storage location of the remote EMV payment application in a payment application server; providing, by the processor, the EMV payment application URI and a payment token from the transaction request to the payment application server; invoking, by the payment application server, the remote EMV payment application based on the EMV payment application URI; wherein in response to being invoked, the remote EMV payment application is configured to interact with a merchant system kernel executed by the processor to process the transaction request, and wherein in response to processing the transaction request the remote EMV payment application is configured to transmit a transaction authorization request comprising EMV transaction data including the payment token directly to an issuer system; and receiving, by the processor, a transaction authorization notice from the issuer system, wherein the transaction authorization notice is based on the transaction authorization request generated by the remote EMV payment application. receiving, by a processor, a transaction request comprising a payment token and a Europay, Mastercard and VISA, EMV, payment application uniform resource identifier, URI, wherein the transaction request is generated by a merchant point of sale, PoS, in response to a payment instrument interfacing with the merchant PoS, wherein the payment instrument comprises a local EMV payment application, and the merchant PoS comprises a merchant PoS kernel, wherein the local EMV payment application is configured to interact with the merchant PoS kernel to initiate the transaction, and wherein the payment token and URI correspond to a remote EMV payment application that is selected by the local EMV payment application based on a transaction account selected by a user to be used for the transaction during said interaction; wherein the EMV payment application URI comprises a string of characters identifying a storage location of the remote EMV payment application in a payment application server; providing, by the processor, the EMV payment application URI and a payment token from the transaction request to the payment application server; invoking, by the payment application server, the remote EMV payment application based on the EMV payment application URI; wherein in response to being invoked, the remote EMV payment application is configured to interact with a merchant system kernel executed by the processor to process the transaction request, and wherein in response to processing the transaction request the remote EMV payment application is configured to transmit a transaction authorization request comprising EMV transaction data including the payment token directly to an issuer system; and receiving, by the processor, a transaction authorization notice from the issuer system, wherein the transaction authorization notice is based on the transaction authorization request generated by the remote EMV payment application.