TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - February 19, 2015) - Ahead of Fraud Prevention Month, a new study commissioned by Visa Canada showed Canadian consumers still prioritize payment security above all else. Two thirds (66 per cent) of credit cardholders ranked security as the most important element of a credit card transaction, surpassing convenience (14 per cent) and speed (10 per cent). Additionally, nearly half (48 per cent) of credit cardholders report they worry about fraud when shopping online.

These figures coincide with the four-year milestone of Canada's transition to EMV chip and PIN, following the European example and leading the way for other markets. Whether on a chip card, or other form factors such as a mobile phone, chip technology offers an innovative barrier to counterfeit fraud. The chip stores the payment data and generates a unique, one-time code for each transaction, a feature that is virtually impossible to replicate in counterfeit cards.

The adoption has been widespread -- 83 per cent of transactions processed in Canada are now 'chip-on-chip' (a chip card processed at a chip terminal) and according to Visa data, fraud rates (6 cents for every $100 of global Visa transactions) are historically low. Consumers are noticing the chip and PIN benefits too -- more than two thirds (69 per cent) said they felt the technology was secure, an overwhelming majority (84 per cent) agreed that paying with chip and PIN was easy, and most cardholders (60 per cent) cited an easy transition from magnetic stripe to chip and PIN.

"Since adopting the enhanced security of chip and PIN, Canada has seen a notable decrease in domestic counterfeit and lost and stolen fraud losses," said Gord Jamieson, Head of Visa Canada Risk Services and North America Acquirer Risk Services. "Chip and PIN has laid the groundwork for secure commerce and responsible innovation, something Canadians are telling us is very important to them, wherever they choose to shop."

Contactless NFC payments are the next step in this rapid evolution of commerce in Canada. Seven Visa payWave contactless transactions happen every single second across the country, and new form factors like smartphones now offer NFC technology built-in for connected consumers on-the-go. More than half (58 per cent) of credit card users who have made purchases in person reported having used contactless payments, and almost three quarters (74 per cent) of contactless payment users consider this type of payment quicker than other card payments.

"Canadians are quickly adopting contactless payment methods like Visa payWave," said Jamieson. "Visa payWave transactions are protected by the same layers of security as all Visa payments, including Visa's Zero Liability policy which means consumers do not pay for unauthorized transactions."

When it comes to ecommerce, most credit cardholders have shopped online (86 per cent of cardholders), but many still have privacy and fraud concerns, with 48 per cent reporting they feel their credit card details are less secure online. Visa's multiple layers of security like Verified by Visa, Address Verification Service (AVS), E-Promise, Card Verification Value 2 (CVV2, or the three digit code) offer reassurance that cardholders are protected when using their Visa payment card when shopping online. Complete details about Visa's multiple layers of security including Visa's Zero Liability policy are available at www.visa.ca.

Every Visa transaction is processed through VisaNet, the technology backbone that supports the billions of transactions made on the global network. In a split second, Visa analyzes multiple data sets such as past transactions, whether the account has been involved in a data compromise, global fraud trends, and nearly 500 other pieces of data, helping identify criminal patterns and prevent fraud before it happens.

"The future of commerce is exciting, and Visa is committed to working with consumers and all participants in the payments industry to build out the changing commerce landscape," said Jamieson. "For more than 40 years, VisaNet's multiple, advanced layers of security have supported Visa's changing payment innovations and services, and it will continue to provide that secure backbone for years to come."

More information about chip and PIN, as well as tips and resources for fighting fraud are available on Visa Canada's Security Sense website, available at www.visasecuritysense.ca.

About Visa Inc.

Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions, and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable electronic payments. We operate one of the world's most advanced processing networks -- VisaNet -- that is capable of handling more than 56,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for consumers and assured payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa's innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: pay now with debit, pay ahead of time with prepaid or pay later with credit products. For more information, visit corporate.visa.com and @VisaNewsCA.

About the Survey
These are some of the findings of the Chip and PIN survey conducted by Ipsos Reid from January 14 to 19, 2015 on behalf of Visa Canada. For this survey, a sample of 1,005 Canadians ages 18+ from Ipsos' Canadian online panel was interviewed online. Quota sampling and weighting are employed to balance demographics to ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the adult population according to Census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. The precision of Ipsos online surveys is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the survey is accurate to within ± 3 percentage points had all Canadian adults been surveyed. All sample surveys may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.