Retail Industry Leaders Assn. praises Target, MasterCard for commitment to issuing branded REDcard debit, credit cards enabled with chip and PIN technology starting in 2015, says moving to chip and PIN is major component of RILA's security initiative

Cindy Allen

WASHINGTON , April 30, 2014 (press release) – Retailers have long urged card networks and issuing banks to adopt Chip and PIN technology

The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) issued the following statement today in support of the announcement that Target will begin issuing branded REDcards enabled with MasterCard Chip and PIN security technology in 2015.

"We applaud Target and its partner MasterCard for their leadership and commitment to providing customers with the strongest protections available today,” said Sandy Kennedy, President of RILA. “Migrating to Chip and PIN technology is a major component of RILA’s Cybersecurity and Data Privacy Initiative. The security features associated with Chip and PIN technology will reduce the risk of fraud in the United States as they have done around the world where this enhanced fraud prevention technology has been in place for years.”

Chip and PIN cards are being used throughout the world, and yet migration to Chip cards in the United States is set to begin in October 2015 without the crucial functionality of PIN. RILA urges card issuers and card networks to include universal PIN security when migrating chip-based smart card technology in order to best protect our shared customers. According to the Federal Reserve, simply using a PIN on debit card transactions makes the transaction 700% more secure than when a PIN is not used. As demonstrated today, merchants are willing to make shared investments for enhanced security and we want to work together with our partnering card issuers and card networks to implement this technology in a way that is most secure for our joint customers’ data.

A critical part of RILA’s Cybersecurity and Data Privacy Initiative is urging collaboration among all stakeholders and focuses on four major steps retailers should take to improve the security of debit and credit cards, including requiring that every credit and debit card be issued with a corresponding PIN number and establishing a roadmap to migrate to Chip and PIN technology.

RILA is the trade association of the world’s largest and most innovative retail companies. RILA members include more than 200 retailers, product manufacturers and service suppliers, which together account for more than $1.5 Trillion in annual sales, millions of American jobs and more than 100,000 stores, manufacturing facilities and distribution center domestically and abroad.

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