The chip and PIN programme, which allows shoppers to verify purchases at point of sale by keying in a four-digit PIN, was launched last year to tackle the growing problem of credit and debit card fraud.
Part of the problem is that it is easy to fake a signature when signing a receipt. The new PIN system, due to be fully operational by 1st January next year, will also come with smart chips embedded in cards, which will store information more securely than magnetic strips.
The UK programme began with a successful public trial in Northampton and is now being rolled out nationally.
Chip and PIN released its latest "chip and PIN" barometer at the end of August, which reported that nearly 50 million chip and PIN cards have been issued to over 25 million cardholders – well over half of the UK's 42 million cardholders – and that almost half of all tills in the UK have now installed chip and PIN with 396,000 tills at shops, restaurants, and bars switched over.
A year on from the trial, new research from Chip and PIN shows that Northampton cardholders remain overwhelmingly positive about the new payment method. Two-thirds of the town's chip and PIN cardholders feel the cards are safer and protect them from fraud and 84% think it would be much easier to forge a signature than guess a PIN.
Remembering a PIN is also proving no problem: 97% of respondents knew the PIN on their debit card and 67% knew the PIN on their credit cards.
"The full national roll out is well underway right across the UK and the experience in Northampton points to a successful implementation elsewhere," said Jemma Smith, spokesperson for Chip and PIN.
But not everything is proceeding to plan, according to The Guardian, which yesterday reported that thieves are intercepting a growing number of the chip and PIN cards – which are being sent by post to customers.
To make matters worse, says The Guardian, customers are often not expecting the new cards and therefore only find out about the theft when they are unable to take money out of their account.
Speaking to the newspaper, a spokeswoman for the Association for Payment Clearing Services (APACS) said, "There is a feeling that there is a concerted effort among criminals to get more money out of the system ahead of chip and PIN's introduction."
"For the banks it is a risk assessment exercise, but you have to remember that the majority of cards arrive without problem - when they do go missing in the post the customer is not liable for any subsequent losses," she added.
The programme is part of an international initiative to tackle counterfeit and lost and stolen plastic card fraud. A similar domestic PIN-based system in France saw an 80% reduction in fraud when it was introduced twelve years ago, according to Chip and PIN.