Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Chip and PIN

Chip and PIN is the name of a government-backed initiative in the United Kingdom to implement the EMV standard for secure payments. There is also a similar initiative in the Republic of Ireland called Chip and PIN Ireland.

Until the introduction of Chip and PIN, all face-to-face credit or debit card transactions used a magnetic stripe or mechanical imprint to read and record account data, and a signature for verification. Under this system, the customer hands their card to the clerk at the point of sale, who either "swipes" the card through a magnetic reader or makes an imprint from the raised text of the card. In the former case, the account details are verified and a slip for the customer to sign is printed. In the case of a mechanical imprint, the transaction details are filled in and the customer signs the imprinted slip.

No comments: