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Wal-Mart: “It’s Time For Chip-And-PIN In The U.S.”
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May 20th, 2010
With major card brands and the banks strongly opposed to Chip-and-PIN efforts in the United States, there's only one way it's going to happen—and that happened Wednesday (May 19): Wal-Mart publicly forced the issue. When the world's largest retailer insists on a path, even Visa has to listen. And Wal-Mart is now insisting on a domestic Chip-and-PIN (EMV) program.
"As far as we are concerned, signature is a waste of time. It has to be PIN or nothing," Jamie Henry, Wal-Mart's director of payment services, told attendees of a panel discussion held Wednesday at a Smart Card Alliance event in Scottsdale, Ariz.
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5 Comments | Read Wal-Mart: “It’s Time For Chip-And-PIN In The U.S.”
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Our Comment SPAM system is getting very aggressive these days and has been blocking legitimate comments. If you post a comment and don't see it appear within 2 hours or so, can you please send a heads-up to customer-service@storefrontbacktalk? Ideally, please include the time you posted the comment. That will allow us to try and hunt for it. Thanks! P.S. We're working on fixing the system, but we don't want to lose any valuable comments in the meantime.
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May 20th, 2010 at 9:24 am
Jamie is right that the U.S. has lagged in shoring up card security. For most merchants, it’s a chicken or egg question. The incentive for retailers not quite as big as WMT to invest in another round of hardware upgrades will be lower costs and lower charge-backs. But, why invest if no cards exist.
May 20th, 2010 at 9:26 am
It is amazing how often the US lags behind Europe in many tech issues
May 20th, 2010 at 12:27 pm
Retailers are often the most rational technology buyers around. They recognize the marginal benefits of technology and are not willing to spend money on it just because “it’s cool”. Since computers have been around for quite a while now, it is not the technology that is going to take a retailer to the next level, rather it will be how well their organization adopts technology. If the people really learn how to get all they can from the tools they’re given, the marginal improvement that can come from new technology is often minor. It is the added staff training and the emphasis of management that gets the greater return. Of course, the technology vendor will be quick to take credit.
The one exception to all this might be in the payments process. This is where technology can truly make a difference. Just as it takes staff some time to learn it, thieves need time to learn how to circumvent new payment systems. In this case it might just make sense to use new technology merely for the sake of using it. It could also merely mean the retailer attracts a smarter thief.
May 21st, 2010 at 1:05 pm
The technology is already there. We have debit cards, they can use the same technology for credit cards. It’s all BS. I don’t understand why the credit card companies have delayed this security feature for so many years. And now with Identity theft on the rise, all the more reason to implement this globally.
May 21st, 2010 at 3:26 pm
US is waaay behind in so many areas, not only in EMV but also other technological advances such as during tax times.
In some countries, during tax time, all you have to do is (assuming you’ve already applied for your government ID card with chip), you then purchase a nominal IC reader which can only be obtained from a government agency which you can plug into any computer Internet ready with USB connector.
Download current year’s electronic tax form, plug in your ID card with IC chip; confirm on screen info (it will auto download all your reported income by various companies that you worked for during the year and any other reported income by banks, investment firms, etc) a few clicks later, you’re done. Your tax has been filed.