The vast majority of payment cards currently issued in Poland, apart from the number, expiry date and CVV code, also contain the name and surname of the holder and a place for his signature. However, the autograph strip on the reverse will gradually disappear from payment cards.
The captions don’t make sense anymore. Almost everyone pays contactless
The largest banks no longer see the point in placing a characteristic stripe on their cards. Although the requirement to sign a card has existed since the first cards were issued in Poland, it is now dying a natural death. It is no longer needed, say experts interviewed by BI. Mastercard, whose cards are issued by almost every bank in Poland, does not require placing a silicone strip for a signature on the reverse.
Cards based on the EMV standard (contactless cards with a chip) can function safely without a signature pattern on “plastic”, explains Mastercard. Cashiers no longer verify customers’ signatures against the specimens on their cards, and most often they never receive them. In Poland, almost everyone pays contactless and transfers the “plastic” to the terminal themselves. Anyway, transactions are approved either using a PIN or biometrically on the smartphone.
As Małgorzata Witkowska from the Corporate Communication Department of PKO BP explains to BI, according to NBP data, over 99 percent card transactions in our country are made contactless. However, the Polish bank has been issuing cards without a signature field for a relatively short time, since February 2022. As a representative of Visa says, for over two years banks have been deciding whether to include a space for a signature on the card.
Source: Gazeta
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