On 8/Nov/18 11:16, George Michaelson wrote:
There are two parts of the problem. The first is the assumption of risk: the current model of operation in the US (like in other western economies) puts the onus of risk of misuse of the card on specific actors. When you change the basis from signature (fraud) to chip+pin (leak of knowledge) you have to change the legal basis. Remember, this is an economy where WRITING CHEQUES is still normal. Clearly, the legal basis of money transactions in the US is hugely complicated by savings and loan, credit unions, banks, state and federal law, taxes. We all have some of this worldwide, they have a LOT.
Secondly, the cost basis. Who pays? In most of the world the regulator forced cost onto specific players because they could, and forced people to tool up because they could. But, the costs did have to get met. Some people paid more than others. In the US, for reasons not entirely unlike the first set, *making* people do things with cost incursion is remarkably difficult. Making the Walmart brothers re-fit every terminal, when they can go down to DC and buy votes to stop it happening, Making Bank of America spend money re-working its core finance models to suit online chip+pin when it can go down to Walmart and lean on the owners to go down to DC and buy votes...
Seriously: Its not lack of clue. Its lack of intestinal political fortitude, and a very strange regulatory and federal/state model.
Shame, but I can see how this makes sense as to why things are the way they are. Speaking of "cost" as a motivator, in South Africa, most of the banks are now using extra fees as a way to force users to do their banking online (phone, laptop, app, e.t.c.). If you want to walk into a bank to deposit money, withdraw money, make a transfer, e.t.c., you pay for that service over and above, while the process costs you zero (0) when done online. This has led to banks now renovating banking halls into where there was once 23 tellers, you now have 1 service usher, 1 teller, 2 support agents and 20 self-service computers. I hope the U.S. does catch-up. If we were swipe-based here, we'd all be broke :-). I know a number of major merchants in the U.S. now use PIN's, and I always stick to those when I travel there. Mark.