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Visa Inc. Wednesday said it plans to pressure merchants and card issuers in Australia to boost card-security measures. The card brand says it will "engage in discussions with Australian financial and merchant communities" to set deadlines to meet several initiatives designed to reduce card fraud, according to a statement. Those initiatives include ensuring all point-of-sale terminals and ATMs can accept chip-and-PIN cards, which backers credit with reducing fraud in the United Kingdom and other countries; using PINs instead of signatures to verify domestic transactions; and requiring online merchants in Australia to collect the three-digit security codes on the back of bankcards during transactions. Visa, which hopes to complete the effort within five years, plans to meet with issuers and merchants early next year. Unclear is whether Visa, as part of the plan, will shift liability to merchants for magnetic stripe transactions.
