Payment card fraud is still a top concern for large U.S. retailers due to the lack of authentications, according to a study released on Wednesday.
The study conducted by U.S. National Retail Federation and advisory firm Forrester found that 55 percent of those surveyed said fraud was the top payment-related challenge faced by retailers.
After the implementation of Europay-MasterCard-Visa (EMV) chip cards, payment card fraud had moved away from stores and toward online transactions, according to the report.
"The chip in an EMV card makes it very difficult to counterfeit the card, but it does nothing to show whether the person trying to use the card is the legitimate cardholder," said Stephanie Martz, NRF Senior Vice President and General Counsel.
Since "fraud is shifting from in-person to e-commerce channels," the study noted that retailers want better authentication of purchases no matter where they take place.
"While EMV cards in other countries are chip-and-PIN, virtually all EMV credit cards issued by U.S. banks have been chip-and-signature with PIN available only on debit cards. And the major credit card companies stopped requiring a signature last year," according to the study.
For purchases made with cards, the study found that 95 percent of retailers said requiring PINs would improve security and 92 percent would implement it if it were available.
"Someday the answer might be biometrics or technology that has yet to be invented but, in the meantime, we know PIN can stop criminals dead in their tracks." said Martz.
According to the study, for in-person purchases, 51 percent of merchants saw biometrics as the best way to verify transactions, and 53 percent of merchants are interested in implementing fingerprint and facial recognition technology.
"Eliminating fraud and improving authentication are clearly top priorities for retailers," said Brendan Miller, a principal analyst at Forrester.
The National Retail Federation is a retail trade association based in Washington D.C., representing retailers from the United States and more than 45 countries. Forrester is an influential business research and advisory firms based in Cambridge, the state of Massachusetts.
