Cybersecurity
That Annoying Wait for Chip Cards to Clear Is About to Shrink
- New software can cut time waiting at terminals to two seconds
- U.S. now largest chip card market in the world, Visa says
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Ever since banks stuck chips on millions of U.S. credit and debit cards last year, shoppers have spent a little more time waiting at the register and a lot more time complaining about it. On Tuesday, Visa Inc. said it’s trying to fix that.
The world’s largest payments network -- which long pushed the chips at the source of the consternation -- will offer a technology upgrade to cut the time people must leave their cards in machines to roughly two seconds or less. The network has started talking with major terminal manufacturers, and they’ve been receptive, said Stephanie Ericksen, Visa’s vice president of risk products.