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The Future of Plastic
21/05/2008
With the ever-present concern about card fraud, Europay MasterCard Visa (EMV) chip card technology has been developed to combat fraud and provide peace of mind to cardholders. EMV chip cards offer cardholders greater security against card skimming and counterfeiting.
Bruce Mansfield, Visa's executive vice-president for Australia and New Zealand, said: "The competition to offer consumers more innovative EMV payment products will only intensify."
"Banks that want to retain customer interest and loyalty will be best served by moving to EMV as fast as possible - that way, they can build on technology to maintain card security levels and add on new features to meet the increasing expectations of consumers".
As at 2007, Australia's Visa EMV cards grew to reach more than 1.6 million cards on issue. Cuscal is working closely with its service providers to ensure that it has the systems in place to produce and enable transactions with EMV Chip cards. Cuscal is also working with credit unions to introduce and pilot EMV chip cards on the Visa credit card, which will better position it for a full rollout in the near future.
One credit union that will be piloting EMV cards on its Visa credit card is NSW Teachers Credit Union. This is part of their credit card strategy to implement new technologies. While this initiative is to be piloted in upcoming months, the move towards chip cards is a positive step in offering customers an added measure of security against counterfeit cards and protection against skimming.
The industry's introduction of chip and PIN cards is in line with the Pen or PIN initiative, which comes into play on 4 June 2008. Currently, Visa credit and debit cardholders have been signing their name to authorise transactions made in person at Point-of-Sale (POS) where 'credit' is selected. The Pen or PIN initiative gives cardholders the option to enter their PIN to authorise transactions, as an alternative to signing for purchases.
A first of its kind, the Pen or PIN campaign is an industry-wide effort bringing together various financial institutions and merchants to form a unified 'voice' for the roll-out.
Media activity, including national advertising and public relations, has already commenced in anticipation of the 4 June 2008 launch date. It is expected that most financial institutions will also conduct their own activity to communicate this initiative to their cardholders.
Cuscal has been involved in the campaign from the start by participating in all the industry-working groups and representing its customers at the Management, Operations and Marketing Committees, to ensure a smooth transition.
Marketing collateral and supporting materials have already been distributed to customers, to assist branch staff training and help customers communicate to their cardholders so they are educated and comfortable with the new process.
For more information, please contact your Cuscal Relationship Manager.