(by Mark Riley)

Chip and PIN payments are basically used by UK customers to prevent credit card fraud and are expected to bring up to GBP 800 million by the end of 2005.

Nonetheless, chip and PIN program is not the one to bring quick results, specialists note, with the possible extension of profits to the late 2006.Chip cards are known to be easier in use and sometimes safer as compared with the cards based on signature with the great possibility for such cards to be extensively subjected to card fraud. That is leading to increasing number of retailers and services using PIN-secured payments.

Yet, real benefits of chip and PIN payment system will be clear no sooner than by the end of 2005, specialists say.