NEW YORK, NY–(Marketwired – Feb 4, 2014) – Developer of the only payment card to combine EMV chips with fingerprint technology, SmartMetric, Inc. (OTCQB: SMME), provided data today on technologies essential to reducing growing credit card fraud. According to Aite Group, card fraud already costs the card payment industry, primarily issuers, $8.6 billion a year in the U.S. and industry experts are concerned losses will rise as more fraud migrates to the U.S. from smart card-enabled countries.
The U.S. is on a magnetic stripe card system, which is less secure than smartcards which are chip-enabled. EMV chips, which are built into smart payment cards, contain embedded microprocessors that provide strong transaction security features, and other application capabilities not possible with traditional magnetic stripe cards. Most chips are activated by PINs. SmartMetric’s card is the only one to add an extra layer of security by using the card owner’s fingerprint to active the chip.
Point of sale terminals also need to be EMV capable in order to read the smartcards and complete a transaction. According to the Smart Card Alliance, the U.S. is one of the last countries to migrate to EMV. In parts of Europe, 95% of terminals were EMV chip-enabled; 79% in Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean; 77% in Africa and the Middle East; and 51% in Asia Pacific.
“The U.S. is adopting EMV chip cards to defend itself from fraud. The 1.5 billion credit cards currently issued in the U.S. will need to be replaced. What puts SmartMetric’s card at the forefront of fraud fighting technologies is the fact that our card combines EMV chips with the smallest fingerprint technology in the world. Fingerprint technology is the next new frontier in payment system security and we believe the incentives for its adoption are quite compelling,” stated SmartMetric CEO Chaya Hendrick.
A recent Marketwatch article states that according to MasterCard, counterfeit fraud decreased by 60% to 80% in markets where chip technology was installed. Discover Financial Services reports that as the EU has completed its migration to EMV, the region has seen an 80% reduction in credit card fraud while the U.S. has witnessed a 47% increase. The Smart Card Alliance also states that American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa have all announced their roadmaps for moving to EMV in the U.S.
