Chip-and-PIN preferred against POS fraud

EMV technology will greatly aid their efforts in the fight against credit and debit card fraud, say the respondents to a survey by the Association for Financial Professionals.

The survey, underwritten by J.P. Morgan, found that 92% of finance professionals firmly believe EMV, or chip-and-PIN, cards will be effective in reducing point-of-sale fraud. In addition, 61% believe that chip-and-PIN will be the most effective authentication method in mitigating credit/debit card payments fraud.

"Financial professionals clearly prefer chip-and-PIN over chip-and-signature in the fight against fraud, and they overwhelmingly believe in EMV," says Jim Kaitz, president and CEO of AFP.

Despite companies' fears, the survey found that 70% of companies that were subject to payments fraud in 2014 did not suffer a financial loss from the attack. Although declining, checks are by far the payment method most subjected to actual or attempted fraud, and they accounted for the largest dollar amount of loss.

Among the key findings:

• 62% of companies were targets of payments fraud in 2014—a 2% increase from 2013.

• The most targeted payment methods in 2014 were: checks (77%); credit cards/debit cards (34%); wires (27%).

• Checks continue to account for the largest dollar amount of loss due to payments fraud.

The AFP Payments Fraud & Control Survey, conducted in January 2015, is based on 741 responses from corporate treasury and finance professionals with the job titles cash manager, analyst, and director and is now in its 11th year.

The Association for Financial Professionals is a professional society that represents finance executives globally. AFP established and administers the Certified Treasury Professional and Certified Corporate FP&A Professional credentials, which set standards of excellence in finance.

For a full copy of the survey report, email to [email protected]