Cebu banks EMV migration on track ahead of deadline

Cebu banks' migration into EMV (Europay, Mastercard and Visa) technology has reached a "significant" progress ahead of the June 30 deadline set by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

BSP-Cebu regional director Leonides Sumbi told The FREEMAN the Cebu banking sector in particular is keen on fast tracking its migration.

Based on the report she received from the Cebu Bankers Club (CBC), Sumbi said most of the bank organization's member banks have already made significant progress in migrating their clients' ATM (automated teller machine) cards into EMVenabled.

The official said the banking sector is on track to full transition to EMW-enabled cards.

She said of the more than 30 member banks of CBC, only three, composed of thrift and savings banks have yet to make progress in their EMV transition.

CBC president Mario Fritz Palileo earlier said the EMV technology is key to minimize the cases of card fraud and skimming.

The BSP had given banks until June 30 this year to fully comply with the EMV shift mandate.

The central bank has pushed the banking industry towards full adoption of EMV technology at a much faster pace.

Failure to meet the June 2018 final deadline will subject banks to monetary sanctions.

Banks are told to raise awareness as well as manage customers’ expectations on the replacement of their payment cards including debit and credit.

Banks are further expected to develop strategies to entice or force clients to replace their old cards with EMV cards such as deactivation of existing cards by certain date, offering of rewards or freebies, and/or liability shift for skimming incidents.

EMV chip-enabled cards have enhanced features that verify transactions made on card, minimizing cases of card fraud incidents and identity theft.

The regulatory requirement to shift to EMV is part of the banking industry’s move to boost protection against fraudulent activities usually carried out in electronic banking channels. Last November 2014, the Bangko Sentral had required all supervised financial entities with debit and credit card issuing and acquiring functions to migrate their entire payment card network to the more secure EMV technology.

The EMV electronic chip technology is designed to give tighter security and prevent ATM card fraud incidents.

EMV is a global standard for chip-based credit and debit transactions and is deemed more secured than the magnetic stripe technology which is currently used in most bank-issued cards in the country. — Carlo S. Lorenciana