Editorial: It is 20 years since Northern Ireland began paying for things with chip and pin, before moving on to other technologies

​Last week we reported on how Northern Ireland is the most “cash heavy” part of the UK.

Consumers in the province withdrew an average £2,249 last year, compared to a UK-wide norm of £1,352 – with typically 15 trips to cash machines, according to ATM and cash network Link.

The reasons for the regional disparity are not clear, but probably include factors such as being a more rural and traditional society, that is slower to change.

But anyone who has been in Belfast over the last 50 years will know that Northern Ireland’s capital city has never been a slouch in keeping up with new ways to pay. Credit cards were accepted by some outlets in the 1970s, and widely so in the 1980s.

It seems hard to believe that up until relatively recently – 15 years ago – it was not unusual to be delayed at a cash till in a supermarket by someone writing out a cheque, and then having to get it verified with a card. But cheques, which were themselves once seen as a modern facility, and are now rejected.

Meanwhile, this weekend marks the anniversary of yet another advance – 20 years since chip and pin fully replaced signatures for in-store card purchases. It transformed how people make transactions.

The move enhanced security around card payments as customers put their four-digit personal identification number (pin) into a keypad to authorise a purchase, moving away from signatures. Banking and finance industry body UK Finance said that a key reason for the introduction of chip and pin was to cut “card-present” fraud, and magnetic stripe cloning or counterfeit card fraud. It said the initiative worked, with a 95% reduction in losses to counterfeit card fraud over the past 20 years.

And guess what? We now have yet better ways to pay. Contactless tapping is popular, and even mobile phones.

Cash is handy for many people, but ultra technological ways keep emerging.