ABA and other groups representing banks and credit unions in a letter Friday pushed back against retailer claims about the need for PINs to accompany new EMV, or “chip” cards. The letter was sent in response to questions raised at an Oct. 7 Small Business Committee hearing on EMV and in anticipation of the panel’s second hearing on the topic, scheduled for Wednesday.
“Rather than coming together to improve internal data security practices, the retail trades are fixating on a PIN technology that fights a small and declining share of today’s fraud and which would have been meaningless in breaches like those at Target and Home Depot,” the groups said.
The letter notes that chip cards will greatly reduce fraud risks once magnetic stripe cards are replaced and chip card readers are installed at retailers. It also notes that banks and credit unions spend billions annually on payment security innovations, such as tokenization technology, to stay ahead of thieves, and that such a forward-looking approach should be the focus of discussions.