Starting in April 2018, MasterCard holders in Canada and the U.S., who are making a debit or credit transaction, will no longer need to sign their names to complete a purchase.
“Eliminating the need for [a] signature is another step in the digital evolution of payments and payment security,” Linda Kirkpatrick, executive vice president of market development at MasterCard, said in a statement. “Our consumer research found that a majority of people believe it would be easier to pay and that checkout lines would move faster if they didn’t need to sign when making a purchase.”
Since MasterCard utilizes many other tactics to prove identity, including chip, tokenization, biometrics and specialized digital platforms, removing the signature aspect of the transaction will not have any impact on safety, she said.
