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Five years on, UK Cards Association hails the payment security system a success at driving down card fraud

Five years on, UK Cards Association hails the payment security system a success at driving down card fraud

 

Monday 14 February 2011 is the five-year anniversary of PIN Day – and the ‘I ? PIN’ campaign – when the official changeover to chip and PIN took place in the UK.

 

Love it or hate it on this day for romantic celebration, five years ago, it was still possible to use a signature, even if the retailer had upgraded to chip and PIN.

 

Since its introduction, The UK Cards Association said chip and PIN has not only helped drive down card fraud but has also led more of us choosing to pay with plastic in more places. So popular in fact, it found last year for the first time ever UK consumers spent more on our debit cards than they did with cash.

 

UK leads the way

 

The UK led the roll out of global chip and PIN technology. But now UK cardholders can expect to use their PIN in the vast majority of European countries, as most are also at an advanced stage of rolling it out on their cards, in their shops and at their cash machines.

 

The only major country not to have upgraded or to have any plans to do so is the US.

 

Melanie Johnson, chair of The UK Cards Association, stated: “Chip and PIN is a great success. The UK was the first country in the world to fully rollout this global version of chip and PIN – demonstrating our commitment to embrace innovation for the benefit of our customers.

 

“Five years on and cards continue to be an increasingly popular way to pay – whether at home or abroad – which is no surprise, given the fact that they allow us to pay for things safely, easily and conveniently.”