Apacs: Chip and pin a success

UK payments association Apacs has announced that, six months after the practice was fully introduced, the UK is the world’s first chip and pin success story.

According to the organisation, more than 99.8 per cent of all chip and pin card transactions are now pin-verified and more than 150 transactions using the method take place every second.

Some 130 million chip and pin cards have been issued by UK banks and card companies – this accounts for 92 per cent of the 141 million cards currently in circulation in the UK.

A £60 million reduction in counterfeit activity and fraud on lost and stolen cards was recorded in 2005 – a 24 per cent decrease compared to 2004.

“Britain is now a truly mature chip and pin nation. Millions of people have adapted to the change with no problems at all,” said Sandra Quinn, Apacs director of corporate communications.

“This means that we are all a lot safer when we go shopping, and that fraudsters have been denied millions of pounds of stolen money.”

While she stressed that it was impossible for chip and pin to eradicate fraud completely, Ms Quinn said that the method has made cards in the UK safer than they were two years ago and stated that banks and retailers would continue working together to continue the trend.