State AGs Push for Banks to Issue Chip and PIN Cards

The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) issued the following statement after nine state attorneys general sent a letter to the CEOs of America's largest banks and card networks urging the adoption of chip and PIN technology in the United States. In the letter, state AGs rebut a number of misleading arguments and excuses that banks and card networks have made in recent months regarding their unwillingness to implement Chip and PIN. 

Brian Dodge, RILA's executive vice president for communications & strategic initiatives, echoed the arguments made by the nation's leading consumer protection advocates and urged all law enforcement officials concerned with fighting card fraud to join the chorus of elected officials and policymakers demanding that America's credit card issuers implement Chip and PIN. 

"The two-factor authentication offered by Chip and PIN is the gold standard in nearly every other industrialized nation in the world.  There simply is no honest explanation for banks to refuse to provide American's with the same credit card security offered in Canada and Europe. 

"Chip and PIN is the best available technology for widespread use today, and it's time for banks and card networks to meet the investment being made by retailers to install new payment terminals with credit cards that are proven to prevent all forms of fraud."

The letter from state AGs comes on the heels of comments made by FBI director James Comey and Federal Reserve Board Governor Jerome Powell in support of moving beyond signatures to secure American card payments. 

FBI Director James Comey: "The experts at the FBI would say that PIN and chip is more secure than [chip] and signature." [Source]

Federal Reserve Board Governor Jerome Powell: "The deployment of EMV chip cards in the United States represents an important step forward. But we should not stop there," he said. "New approaches to authentication increasingly offer greater assurance and protection. Given the current technologies that we have at our disposal, we should assess the continued use of signatures as a means of authenticating card transactions." [Source]

###

RILA is the trade association of the world's largest and most innovative retail companies. RILA members include more than 200 retailers, product manufacturers, and service suppliers, which together account for more than $1.5 trillion in annual sales, millions of American jobs and more than 100,000 stores, manufacturing facilities and distribution centers domestically and abroad.