Executive Director’s Letter – July 2010

Executive Director’s Letter – July 2010

Federal Reserve actions signal need to address fraud in advance of NFC payments

A recent blog post on a Federal Reserve Bank web site by a senior Federal Reserve Bank official stated what the Smart Card Alliance and many payments security experts have been saying for years–that the U.S. risks becoming a global center for card fraud as a result of its reliance on magstripe cards while the rest of the world moves to more secure EMV-based chip and PIN payment technology. Richard Oliver, executive vice president at the Retail Risk and Fraud Forum at the Federal Reserve Bank, of Atlanta posted his comments on the Portals and Rails blog on July 19th. Does this renewed focus on payments technology and fraud by the Federal Reserve Bank signal that government regulators are growing tired of waiting for financial issuers to sort out the real costs of fraud in the U.S. and the messy cost redistribution that comes with migrating to EMV chip payment technology? Read more…