The hospitality sector must be breathing a huge sigh of relief as the number of fraudulent transactions begins to fall, as a result of chip-and-PIN systems.

As an independent developer of electronic point of sale (EPoS) and payment technologies, I was pleased to see reports confirming that the technology has been instrumental in reducing fraud from counterfeit and lost or stolen cards by almost £60m in total - the first fall in a decade.

In fact, payment systems are already advancing, with new biometric applications being tested. In the retail sector, trials are under way with a new fingerprint payment system, which is an alternative to chip and PIN. The system links with the customer's bank account and the shop's loyalty card, so all transactions are captured with one touch of a screen.

I believe this technology has excellent scope within the hospitality sector, where customer loyalty is key. By using biometric systems to capture both customer data and their spending information, while also securely managing payment systems (and reducing fraud), businesses can only benefit from the take-up of new technologies.

Keith Rochefort
Managing director, I-Control Hospitality

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