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 . <EOS>