In recent years, the major banks in New Zealand have worked alongside terminal vendors toimplement EMV standards. In June 2014 a second tranche of (5.2) terminals was upgraded. A 2010Visa report highlighted the company’s seven point security plan, which included 100% chip-and-PINimplementation by end-2014. By October 2014 consumers would be unable to sign for transactionswith New Zealand issued Visa cards.
Ecommerce and Mobile Commerce Fraud Prevention
Online shopping continues to grow in importance in New Zealand. By 2012, 54% of New Zealand’s2.8 million Internet users shopped online and had made an online purchase in the previous 12months. New Zealand online spending is now equivalent to around 9.5% of traditional retail salesand international purchases account for 43% of online sales.
Despite this fairly rapid growth in ecommerce, reported fraud levels remain low. According to a May2015 report, New Zealand is among the five countries with the lowest levels of Card Not Presentfraud, the others being Denmark, Finland, Norway and Switzerland.
The Nielsen Annual Retail Report has shown rapid growth in shopping via mobile devices, reflectingincreased mobile penetration. As the number of mobile commerce shoppers grows, it will beimportant for merchants to develop tailored mobile fraud rules for this fast expanding sales channel.
In March 2015, the New Zealand Herald reported that consumers using the POLi method of paymentfor online transactions were warned by banks that ‘they might not be covered’ if fraud occurred. ThePOLi system (which is offered by Australia Post and allows consumers to make one-off payments viainternet banking rather than using a credit or debit card)) has been operating for eight years. Somebanks have expressed concerns about the process followed, whereby consumers provide theirinternet banking login details to a third party. They argue that, in providing these details to a thirdparty, customers could jeopardise the bank’s guarantee to make good any losses from internetbanking fraud.