PURCHASE, N.Y.—Joining the growing movement to skip the signature at the point of sale, Mastercard announced it is eliminating the need to sign for purchases made on its plastic at retail, as of April.
Whether to sign or not will now be an optional decision for merchants in the U.S. and Canada. Already, many merchants don't currently require signatures for purchases, USA Today noted.
“The signature was originally designed as a security precaution, to prove that you indeed made the purchase, but Mastercard notes that chips, biometrics and tokens use newer and more secure methods to prove identify,” said USA Today.
“Eliminating the need for signature is another step in the digital evolution of payments and payment security,” Linda Kirkpatrick, executive vice president of MasterCard’s U.S. market development division, told USA Today.