BPI Family to miss deadline for full migration to EMV-compliant cards
THE THRIFT lender of Ayala-led Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) said its systems will be Europay, Mastercard and Visa (EMV) compliant by the end of next year, missing the central bank’s June 2018 deadline.
BPI Family Savings Bank, Inc. will be able to migrate its magnetic stripe cards to microchip-powered technology by January to end-March 2018, the lender said, noting it won’t be able to meet the June 30, 2018 extension deadline set by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP.)
“So July we’ll start issuing the EMV debit Cirrus cards, by January to first quarter of 2018 is when we’ll migrate the rest,” BPI Family Savings Bank President and Chief Executive Officer Maria Cristina “Ginbee” L. Go told reporters in a briefing when asked about its EMV compliance.
“We most likely will not finish by June 2018 just because of the sheer size of our base, but we hope to finish by end-2018 because by 2019, there’s no more fallback for magstripe cards, all machines can only accept EMV cards,” Ms. Go added.
The BSP in June announced that it has extended its deadline for banks to fully shift to EMV technology by June 30, 2018 from the original deadline set on Jan. 1, 2017 stated under BSP Circular 859 issued in 2014.
EMV technology makes use of microchips rather than the traditional magnetic strip found at the back of cards, which are prone to skimming — usually done by illegally tapping into automated teller machine (ATM) terminals to steal client data. As a result, EMV — an international standard — makes depositors and credit card holders “more secure” against fraud.
The central bank had warned non-compliance with its tighter EMV guidelines would constitute a “serious offense” that would warrant penalties.
The thrift lender had said it is scheduled to officially roll out its initial EMV debit Cirrus cards by end-July.
“Which means they will be able to transact in local and international Cirrus machines just like what they are able to do now and local point-of-sale (POS),” Ms. Go said. “So we are on time for a launch this July, [and] for the Visa and Mastercard will be first quarter next year.”
According to central bank data, there are around 76 million debit and prepaid cards in the country while there are 8.5 million credit cards. Local banks also operate 19,084 ATMs across the country.
In June, BSP Governor Nestor A. Espenilla, Jr. had said that shifting to the EMV platform is the “long-term” solution against card skimming.
Asked if the banks’ ATMs are also EMV-compliant already, Ms. Go said “there are just a few more machines” that needed to migrate to the system.
BPI Family Savings Bank saw its bottom line reach P4.4 billion in 2016, an uptick of 5% from the P4.2 billion booked in the previous year. For this year, the thrift bank said it eyes a softer growth in its net income of 10% by end-2017 as it is currently streamlining its processes to manage risks.
The lender also plans to put up six more branches before the year ends, bringing its total branch network to 162 from the current 156 this 2017. —