£1.1bn anti-fraud card scheme still on track

The delivery of new anti-fraud 'Chip and PIN' credit and debit cards to bank customers in the UK is lagging behind schedule, but the organisation behind the £1.1bn scheme claims the rollout is still on track.

The Chip and PIN project, which is backed by payment clearing body APACS, banks, card issuers and the British Retail Consortium, aims to issue 42 million people with 120 million of the new cards by 2005 as part of plans to cut the UK's £424m annual card fraud bill by half.

The first Chip and PIN 'barometer' reveals that eight million of the new cards have been issued to one in six cardholders – although the original target at the launch in October was that one in five cardholders would have the cards by Christmas.

A spokeswoman for the Chip and PIN programme told silicon.com this is not a problem and that the scheme is on track.

"The rollout is broadly on target and we are very pleased with the progress," she said.

Over 100,000 businesses have switched to accepting payment by the new card, which involves entering a PIN number at the checkout instead of signing a paper receipt. Safeway has completed its rollout and is accepting an average of 100,000 transactions per week across its 480 stores.

Sandra Quinn, Chip and PIN spokesperson from APACS, said in a statement: "Cardholders and retailers across the UK are starting to benefit from this new fraud-busting technology."

The UK is the first country in the world to adopt the EuroPay Mastercard Visa (EMV) card standard, and one in five cardholders are expected to have the new cards by Christmas this year. A target of 90 per cent rollout has been set for the end of 2004.

In a separate announcement today, SchlumbergerSema said it has won a contract to equip the UK rail network's handheld and cashier ticketing terminals with the Chip and PIN technology. The project is expected to be complete by autumn 2004.