THE Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP) said the public must be ready to have automated- teller machine cards and debit cards that are Euromoney, MasterCard, Visa (EMV) chip-enabled for more efficient transactions and strengthened fraud prevention.
According to BAP Managing Director Cesar O. Virtusio, an EMV card gives the banking public better protection and efficiency. The shift to using EMV cards is being explained to help prevent instances of cyber attacks, he said.
“This upgrade on ATM and debit cards seeks to protect customer information, reduce card fraud and maintain interoperability of payment networks,” he added.
Virtusio said member-banks have started migrating from the old card system to the new EMV-enabled cards. With BAP’s 39 member-institutions, banks have already migrated or are currently in the process of migrating to the new system ahead of the January 2017 deadline set by the regulators.
“Steps have already been taken, it is not easy to migrate into a new system, we have to take into account the volume of transactions and the amount of workload in the process of migration,” Virtusio explained.
He said banks are proactive in ensuring the safety of their clients’ accounts, and the migration to EMV cards was triggered by the increase in identity-theft cases and phishing schemes, while skimmers have become more creative in finding ways to steal money from the public.
“It’s the banks’ responsibility to protect their depositors’ money and this technology migration is a manifestation of that commitment to the public,” he said.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) released Circular 808 in August 2013, which requires all banks and point-of-sale (POS) terminal providers to shift their entire payment network from the traditional magnetic stripe to the more secure EMV chip technology starting January 1, 2017.
Since the end of the year 2013, the BSP has been thoroughly working with industry players to ensure that banks and the payment system providers will be able to comply with the EMV migration.
In earlier reports, BSP Deputy Governor Nestor A. Espenilla Jr. explained that the central bank is working on additional regulations to further strengthen the security capabilities of Philippine banks to stop incidents, like the cyber heist that happened to the central bank of Bangladesh.
ATM and debit-card holders are encouraged to check announcements from their respective banks, as their full cooperation will help ensure the success of this security and system enhancement being rolled out by banks.