ARLINGTON, Va. — The Food Marketing Institute urged the adoption of a PIN option for chip-based credit cards as they develop in the U.S. in the wake of Visa’s announcement last year that it plans to accelerate adoption of contact and contactless chip technology.
“With recent announcements by the card networks, and more anticipated this spring, it is evident that chip cards are coming to the United States,” said Liz Garner, director of government relations for FMI, in a statement. “Any investment in chip card technology that doesn’t require issuers to enable a PIN option on their cards would be of great concern to our industry.”
The grocery industry accounts for 39% of PIN debit volume in the United States, according to Pulse. Food retailers have consistently argued that the PIN number is crucial to validating a customer’s identity in the checkout lane.
“The grocery industry is an extremely important stakeholder in the retail payments chain, and it is imperative we have a seat at the table, along with other merchants, when the U.S. standards and timelines for chip cards are being developed,” Garner added. “Since a grocery store may have five or 10 or 20 different checkout lanes to serve its customers, when the payments rules and infrastructure in this country change, it can become a significant investment for businesses of all sizes.”
FMI also said it supports efforts by the Merchant Advisory Group (MAG) to bring together all stakeholders in the payments chain to create a single, safe and secure payments standard. MAG’s payments roadmap makes recommendations to mitigate fraud against U.S. electronic payments.
