The chip-and-PIN payments system is finally coming to America, or at least to federal agencies, according to counsel Christopher Avery of Davis Wright Tremaine in this recent post. This system, like the name suggests, uses chips and pins in credit cards instead of the magnetic strip and as Leo King reported in Forbes, the U.S. is more than a decade behind many Europeans countries, which has had this as the default system for years, and Canada and other developed nations.
On Oct. 17, President Obama signed an executive order to secure government payments with the goal of protecting data security. This order requires new terminals purchased after Jan. 1, 2015, to include the hardware to support the new technology. In addition, after that date, all direct express prepaid debit cards to pay government benefits will have chip technology, noted Avery.
