A significant reduction in payment fraud is expected next year with a decision by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to grant authorisation to Visa and MasterCard to abolish the use of signatures for purchases over $100.

From July 1, 2014 consumers will be better protected by needing to enter their PIN for credit and debit card transactions to be approved.

It is expected that Australia’s 14,000 cafes and restaurants, their staff and customers will be affected the most by the changes, with customers to have to leave their seats to pay for bills at the cashier using their four digit PIN code.

Jost Stollmann, CEO of Tyro Payments. welcomes the move by the ACCC. He says the PIN requirement will put the customer back in control.

“It’s virtually impossible for a fraudster to ascertain a PIN, while forging a signature is easy,” he said.

“Using chip card technology and PIN entry is an effective method to stamp out card theft and skimming and the share of fraud in face to face transactions.

In light of the coming changes, Tyro has developed Australia’s only all IP based, integrated ‘pay at table’ hardware, which links restaurant management software and the payment terminal and allows the consumers to use the device at their table to split the bill, pay, and tip using their four digit PIN.

“While mobile terminals are nothing new, their adoption in restaurants was lacklustre to say the least. Australians spend a huge $10 billion annually dining out at cafes and restaurants and struggling retailers can’t afford to alienate their customers.

“Tyro’s mobile terminals revolutionise the customer paying experience and makes restaurant staff and owners lives much easier.”