Newsroom

October 21, 2015

Berger: Retailers' PIN argument a smokescreen

After the House Small Business Committee hearing Wednesday about the EMV liability shift, NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger said retailers' response to the debate is "disappointing."

The hearing focused on why many small businesses have yet to install the updated chip card readers and the costs associated with the new technology. During the hearing, several retailer representatives said the new card readers are too expensive and that they wanted chip-and-PIN technology instead of chip-and-signature alternatives.

"As expected in the hearing today, retailers continued to focus on the red herring of PINs at point of sale, even though a PIN does nothing to solve the increasing pattern of fraud with card-not-present transactions, such as those that occur online," Berger said, in a statement. "The EMV technology already makes cards safer at point of sale if a merchant is compliant."

He continued, "While we are not surprised by their focus, we are disappointed that retailers completely disregarded the need for national data security standards. The retailers' ‘chip-and-PIN' argument is a smokescreen to avoid working together with financial institutions to help safeguard consumers' valuable personal and financial information. NAFCU will continue our push for Congress to establish national data security standards for retailers and all those who handle sensitive consumer information."

Earlier this month, NAFCU witness Jan Roche testified before the same committee and argued that Congress must focus on a national data security standard for retailers, akin to the standard already governing financial institutions under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. She also explained that EMV and chip technology only helps with one kind of fraud being committed and would not have prevented data breaches like those that hit Target or Home Depot.

NAFCU continues to push for congressional action on H.R. 2205, the "Data Security Act," which was introduced by Reps. Randy Neugebauer, R-Texas, and John Carney, D-Del.