A survey of 1,000 Britons conducted by Mastercard found that a strong majority of consumers are favourable towards the new system, which is expected to significantly cut credit and debit card fraud.

Half of the respondents said they believed it would be ‘quite easy’ for their signatures to be forged during fraudulent transactions.

Customers using the new chip cards must type in their pin number at point of sale terminals before the transaction is processed instead of signing for it, adding an extra level of security.

It’s clear that the nation lacks complete confidence in the security of signature only checks,’ Paul Lucraft of Mastercard said, according to BBC Online.

The findings are good news for banks, which believe the new cards will cut the cost of card fraud in the UK.