Chip and PIN in New Zealand

"From April 2010, all new Visa credit cards issued in New Zealand will feature secure embedded smart chips to give New Zealanders a higher level of confidence in the security of their transactions,” Mr Preston said. "This will be followed by the upgrade of Visa debit and reloadable prepaid cards from April 2012,” he added."Chip technology will offer banks and merchants the ability to provide their customers with benefits such as faster transactions, innovations such as contactless payments and the opportunity to store information like reward programs on their cards.”The move to chip and PIN was part of a comprehensive seven-point security agenda that also includes initiatives to enhance the security of online transactions. Cardholders will be enabled to use a Verified by Visa password when shopping over the internet. Online retailers will be required to capture the three-digit cardholder verification number when processing transactions, while small and medium sized businesses will be required to enhance their levels of data security.Timeline to rolloutVisa has consulted with financial institutions and merchants to agree on the following actions and timelines:

• By 1 April 2010, banks and other financial institutions must issue all new Visa credit cards on chip.
• By 1 April 2012 all new Visa debit and reloadable prepaid cards must be on chip.
• By 1 April 2014, 100% of all Visa cards must be on chip.
• Ensuring all merchant acceptance terminals must be chip capable and activated by 1 April 2012.
• Ensuring all new Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) commissioned must be chip capable by 1 April 2011.
• Introducing a broad rollout of PIN (Personal Identification Number) verification for all  domestic transactions, with signatures no longer accepted from 1 April 2012.
• Issuers must enrol all Visa cards for Verified by Visa, a free service for cardholders that provides a password for secure online shopping, by 1 April 2012.
• All merchants who take online, telephone and mail order transactions must check the three-digit card verification code (known as CVV2) from 1 April 2012.

Safe and secureChip cards used with PINs have proven to be effective in reducing counterfeit card fraud overseas. The UK introduced compulsory chip and PIN in 2006, resulting in fraud losses at UK retailers falling by 35% between 2005 and 2008. In Malaysia, chip technology was mandated in 2005 and resulted in domestic counterfeit fraud on Malaysian-issued Visa cards being virtually eliminated within 12 months.