(5 May 2008 – Australia) Credit Card holders in Australia are set to get another option in verifying their credit card, with the introduction of the PIN at point of sale.Most American Express, Diners Club, MasterCard and VISA card holders across Australia will have the choice of a faster way to authorise their credit card transactions, using a Personal Identification Number (PIN) at point of sale.
The industry-wide initiative known as PEN or PIN is the result of the collaboration of every major bank, financial institution and card scheme operating in Australia.
The initiative is designed to have the potential to change the way nearly 4 million credit and debit transactions are authorised every day in Australia.
PEN or PIN project manager, Simon Greig, said that Australians are among the most prolific card users in the world, making more than 118 million card transactions per month.
The option to use PIN will be available from 4 June at many of the 600,000+ terminals across Australia that currently accepts cards from the issuers involved.
Bruce Mansfield, Visa’s general manager for strategic innovations, Asia Pacific said that the introduction of PIN is part of a major industry-wide upgrade of the payments system that brings Australia into line with countries such as Japan, Korea, New Zealand and the UK.
It will also become increasingly beneficial for cardholders to use their PINs when travelling overseas to countries where PIN acceptance has already been introduced.