A behind-the-scenes switch in the payments industry coming in October will change the way U.S. consumers shop and could bring wider acceptance for Apple Pay and its competitors.
Beginning Oct. 1, liability for transactions with fraudulent credit and debit cards will shift from the card companies to retailers, if the retailers haven’t invested in terminals that accept chip-based cards. The chip cards are already being sent from banks to customers, and some stores have them in place, but much is still up in the air.
At this week’s Transact 15 expo in San Francisco, a gathering of companies in the electronic payments industry, there were questions but few answers. Could the shift be delayed, will banks mandate PIN numbers instead of signatures for purchases with the new cards, and will cybercriminals just shift their attention online?
