The latest chip and PIN barometer, issued today, shows that millions more UK shoppers have received chip and PIN cards and some of the nation's biggest retailers are now rolling out the new, more secure technology.
Asda, Dixons and Wilkinsons are some of the new big high street names starting to use chip and PIN technology at their checkouts. Together, these retailers account for some 20 per cent of all plastic card sales made in the UK, so shoppers will increasingly find themselves entering their four-digit PIN, rather than a signature, when they go shopping.
Today's figures show that more than two in five UK cardholders (41 per cent) now has a chip and PIN credit or debit card and 305,000 small businesses (55%) - including shops, restaurants, and bars - have already switched over to chip and PIN.
Sandra Quinn, chip and PIN spokesperson, said: "With big household names now upgrading to chip and PIN - as well as more than half of the UK's smaller businesses which accept plastic cards using the new, more secure technology - the rollout really is gathering pace.
"As more and more businesses make the change to chip and PIN, and more new cards are issued, cardholders will benefit from the added security provided by chip and PIN, which will prevent fraud on lost and stolen or cloned cards."
The rollout of chip and PIN began in October 2003, and is backed by the UK's banking and retail industries. Chip and PIN cards will be issued and tills switched over according to the individual plans of the banks, building societies, merchants and retailers. Cardholders do not need to do anything themselves as card companies will contact them when they are ready to issue new cards.
The UK Chip and PIN Programme is part of an international initiative to tackle counterfeit and lost and stolen plastic card fraud. A similar domestic PIN-based system for debit cards only in France has seen an 80 per cent reduction in fraud since its introduction ten years ago.