US credit card providers American Express, Mastercard and Discover have eliminated the need for signature authentication for purchases, with Visa also about to do the same. The move followed criticism that the identification procedure slowed down checkouts and was not as secure as digital verification methods. Credit card signatures are about to become a thing of the past, with American Express, Mastercard, Visa, and Discover — the four major US credit card companies — set to do away with the requirement for signatures on in-store purchases in the coming days. The removal will be implemented differently by the various card providers, depending on country and retailer. In a blog post, MasterCard said it had been working closely with banks over the past year to develop new ways of verifying cardholders using their mobile devices.
US credit card providers American Express, Mastercard and Discover have eliminated the need for signature authentication for purchases, with Visa also about to do the same. The move followed criticism that the identification procedure slowed down checkouts and was not as secure as digital verification methods. The removal will be implemented differently by the various card providers, depending on country and retailer. In a blog post, MasterCard said it had been working closely with banks over the past year to develop new ways of verifying cardholders using their mobile devices.