Chip and PIN Programme

You may have heard about changes to the way we use our cards to pay for things. This change – which is a joint retail and banking industry initiative - has been brought about by the need to combat card fraud and has two elements: Chip and PIN.

Cards with chips are already being introduced by the UK’s banks – you probably already have one yourself. The aim behind putting microchips on to cards is to hold the card’s data securely so that it cannot be copied or altered - thereby preventing card counterfeiting.

The second element is PIN. Up to now, PINs have been used by cardholders to authorise withdrawals from cash machines. During 2005, PINs will become the way to authorise payments where the cardholder is present, as the way of verifying that the cardholder is the true owner of the card – instead of using signatures as now. The same PIN is used for both cash machine withdrawals and purchases and is given to you by your bank.

The Solo banks are participating in this initiative, which is being overseen by the Chip and PIN Programme Management Organisation (PMO). For full and up-to-date information on the Chip and PIN project visit: www.chipandpin.co.uk.