If banks don’t speed up the process for testing Chip and PIN equipment, many retailers will not be able to get their kit accredited before the January 2005 deadline, a leading EPoS solutions provider has warned.

Anker Systems MD Doug Hargrove said: “A lack of bank resource and inconsistent interpretation of the rules is creating a backlog that will seriously undermine retailers’ chance of compliance in time for January 2005.”

Although many retailers used the same software and PINpad combinations, each had to be separately accredited with banks, said Hargrove. “If banks do not get some kind of consistency into accreditation
and increase testing resource, retailers will not have a chance to even ponder their ability to get implementation completed on time.”

Spar IT controller Roy Ford said Spar was now behind schedule on Chip and PIN because changes to the banks’ requirements had meant its software had had to be rewritten. The new version had then needed to be reaccredited, meaning a lengthy delay, he said.

“This has been quite annoying as we were one of the first to get on board and now we are behind. I don’t think the banks have the resources to cope with it.”

Mark Proudfoot at Nisa member Proudfoot said he was told he would have to wait three months before the chain’s Chip and PIN kit could be tested.

A Barclays spokeswoman insisted that there was not a significant backlog of retailers waiting to be accredited.

But she added that the number of different systems on the market made the testing and accreditation process more time consuming than had been originally envisaged.
Elaine Watson