Submissions to an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission consultation on an application by Visa and MasterCard to act together to phase out signatures as a means of customer verification have largely supported the application.Under the terms of the proposed plan, called PIN@POS, the scheme operators will amend their regulations, so that from June 30 next year signatures will no longer be accepted. The new rule will not apply when a magnetic stripe is used to activate the transaction; it will only apply when a card's chip is used. Visa Australia and MasterCard Asia-Pacific are seeking authorisation under the cartel provisions of the Competition and Consumer Act.Visa and MasterCard estimate that about 45 per cent of card-holders do not use PINs when they make payments. They argue that phasing out signatures will make card payments safer, and they want to act in concert to avoid confusion and duplication.The ACCC received 13 submissions. All of them agreed that eliminating signatures would reduce the incidence of payment fraud.National Australia Bank's submission said security-related matters could be dealt with in a co-ordinated way without impacting on competition between schemes.The Reserve Bank's submission said joint action and a joint communications strategy would reach a larger consumer and merchant audience, resulting in greater understanding of the issue.The RBA said it was important that Visa and MasterCard did not use their joint communication to give the impression that the only way to make a secure transaction was through their networks. American Express made similar observations in its submission.Several submissions made the point that if the ACCC did not authorise the joint activity the card schemes would probably achieve the same outcome separately, which would make the process less efficient.The Australian Retailers Association said: "If PIN@POS mandates were implemented separately and differently by Visa and MasterCard, retailers would likely be faced with increased costs and disruptions."A couple of small business submissions said the introduction of PIN@POS should not impose high implementation costs on small businesses.