Visa Inc. is joining the other three card brands in making signatures optional or many of its transactions beginning in April.
The card brand, which had credit card volume of $499 billion and debit volume of $388 billion in its fourth quarter ended Sept. 30, says in a blog post published Friday the rule change applies to all EMV contact or contactless chip-enabled merchants in North America for credit and debit transactions. Visa said in December that 55% of U.S. storefronts accepted EMV chip cards as of September, or 2.5 million merchant locations.