£1.1bn scheme to cut card fraud

BRITAIN'S biggest banks and retailers are clubbing together with a £1.1bn scheme in a bid to curb plastic card fraud.

The project is expected to halve fraud losses - which cost banks £400m last year, or more than £ 1m a day. Marks & Spencer, Tesco, Dixons and Esso petrol stations are among leading firms who will contribute £350, with the banks paying the rest.

All 100 million debit, credit and charge cards in Britain will be replaced in the next three years with new, more sophisticated versions. The cards will incorporate computer chips to make them more difficult to copy. Owners will also be required to pay for goods and services by tapping a PIN into a machine, rather than signing chits of paper.

Chris Pearson of banking organisation APACS said the scheme's introduction 'will be the defining moment in the fight against plastic card crime'.