Banks are lagging behind the retail industry in the
roll-out of chip and pin, despite putting considerable pressure on
retailers to adopt the technology.
More than a third of UK cardholders have yet to receive chip and
pin-enabled cards, according to the Association for Payment
Clearing Services (Apacs).
Banks need to issue 40 million more chip and in cards by the end
of the year to meet Apacs’ own target of achieving 95% roll-out
across the UK.
The card issuers mandated the roll-out of chip and pin card
readers by 1 January 2005. After this date retailers not using the
technology became liable for card fraud, not banks.
But some retailers have struggled to justify the expense of
equipping stores with chip and pin readers. The systems reduce
fraud losses by the banks, but there is little direct benefit for
the retail industry unless banks reduce their charges, said Andy
Billington, IT director at high street retailer Burberry.
Burberry has not implemented chip and pin yet and Billington
said the risk of card fraud to Burberry was relatively small.
A spokeswoman for Apacs said the reason for the slow roll-out of
new cards was down to the sheer scale of the project, and banks
were still committed to chip and pin. She said, "By the end of this
year we hope to have 95% of all credit and debit cards enabled. We
are still in the early stages of the project."
The British Retail Consortium said, "The number of customers
using chip and pin will increase and the number of retailers
implementing the technology will continue to increase."