| Both Visa and Mastercard started out as companies that were owned by a consortium of banks. "By 1970, BofA gave up direct control of the BankAmericard program, forming a cooperative with the other various BankAmericard issuer banks to take over its management. It was then renamed Visa in 1976." Both Visa and Mastercard mandated upgrades to merchant terminals in the non-US world. For example, in Australia, as of 1 August 2014, Chip+PIN was required. That upgrade has been delayed repeatedly in the US because of pushback from the merchants that don't want to upgrade their terminals. It has nothing to do with the consumers. Visa in the US states: "When you upgrade to chip technology, you continue to be protected from counterfeit fraud losses. As of October 1, 2015, businesses that don’t accept Visa chip card transactions may be responsible for any resulting counterfeit fraud. Similarly, effective April 17, 2021, Visa transactions made at ATMs and Automated Fuel Dispensers (AFDs) will be included in the Liability Shift Policy." In the US however, they continue to support signatures, which have been removed pretty much every where else: "No. Visa continues to support a range of cardholder verification methods (CVMs) including signature, online PIN, and no-signature for low-value, low-risk transactions. Visa will maintain interoperability across those methods with technical standards, business rules, and compliance programs." https://usa.visa.com/run-your-business/small-business-tools/... |