Clarity Baron/Home-Chip and Pin

Chip and Pin – are you ready?

Trintech - Chip and PIN

The introduction of Chip and PIN at all point of sale outlets is an initiative undertaken by the banking industry, with the support of the Home Office, to address the growing issue of card fraud. In 2001, £411 million worth of fraud was lost by the UK banks (Source APACS).

The banks have stated, that all merchants must be able to process Chip and PIN card transactions at their POS by 1 January 2005. If merchants decide not to do this;

1. The Liability for charge backs and any other form of fraud will shift to the merchant, (it currently lies with the banks for the majority of fraud).

2. As most merchants will ensure a Chip and PIN infrastructure is in place, fraudsters will naturally migrate to the “weakest link”.

3. The banks will force merchants to anyway by possibly withdrawing their acquiring contract. (source: one of the biggest UK Acquirers)

The UK Chip and PIN program starts with a public trial in Northampton this month with the full national rollout commencing over the next month or two and is due to be completed by 2005.

The scale of the project and nature of the undertaking means that now is the time to prepare for the transition to ensure that your business is ready, as there are a number of stages and timescales involved.
Chip and PIN holds many benefits for you as a retailer, including;

• Most importantly, protection from fraud – especially after 1st January 2005, when the liability shift will affect you.
• Staff relieved of responsibility of identifying cardholders / authorising signatures as the entry of a PIN number will identify the cardholder.
• Improved experience at POS such as speed.
• Less paper to handle as receipts with customer signatures will be no more.

Clarity Baron is working with Trintech, a leading provider of secure payment solutions and supplier to the UK trial, to take you through the decision process involved, with a view to planning the implementation at a time to suit your business and effecting the necessary changes as smoothly as possible.

Trintech has over 15 years experience of card payments and POS integration in the UK and has successfully deployed over a hundred thousand Chip and PIN devices in Europe. Their website www.pinpad.co.uk provides information on how the introduction of Chip and PIN will affect you.

We can help you establish an understanding of how Chip and PIN will affect your business, investigate the solutions available, consult with your staff affected, plus advise on practical factors such as space and accessibility, operational changes and training.

Given the changes in liability which now apply (see above), we recommend acting now in order that we may help you effect the necessary changes as smoothly and rapidly as possible. Please contact Chris Forbes on 01924 268620 or at enquiries@baron.co.uk for more information on the considerations to be addressed over the coming months.