The Alliance expects to issue 600 million chip-enabled cards by 2015. The total number of payment cards in the US stands at approximately 1.2 billion, which includes credit, debit, charge and other forms of payment cards.
US retailers are investing USD 8.65 billion for upgrading their payment terminals and some are prepared to accept the new cards. It is not entirely clear at the moment how many US retailers have upgraded their payment terminals.
US banks and card companies will not issue personal identification numbers (PINs) with the new credit cards, an additional security measure that would render stolen or lost cards virtually useless when making in-person purchases at a retail outlet.
Analysts predict that credit card fraud at brick-and-mortar retailers will fall after the introduction of chip-enabled cards, but that online fraud will rise, as has happened in other countries using the technology.
Research and consulting company Aite Group estimates US online card fraud will more than double to USD 6.6 billion from USD 3.3 billion between 2015 and 2018.
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