Sterling to expand debit card coverage

Sterling Bank of Asia, the thrift bank arm of construction tycoon John Tiu Ka Cho of JTKC Group of Companies, has expanded the coverage of its Europay MasterCard Visa (EMV) chip cards in the Philippines.

In a statement, Sterling Bank said the EMV chip would open new merchant segments deemed too risky for credit and debit programs or which were unwilling to accept credit or debit cards because of the time required for an online authorization.

The bank said cardholder activated terminals, kiosks, cash- based merchants, e-commerce and markets with poor telecommunications can now be considered for Visa acceptance.

Launched in 2008, Sterling Bank’s ShopNPay debit and prepaid cards are the first locally-issued Visa debit and prepaid cards embedded with an EMV chip.

EMV is the global standard for chipbased credit and debit transactions. Compared with the existing magnetic stripe cards, the computing power of the chip ensures security and global interoperability so that Visa cards can be accepted around the world.

The EMV chip, the bank said, provides greater protection against fraud especially counterfeit because it reduces losses from skimming, which is copying of the contents from a magnetic stripe.

The bank said the EMV chip also provides unparalleled protection because each transaction goes through a unique authentication process which prevents card information being copied and subsequently used to transact fraudulently.

“Therefore, ShopNPay Visa Debit and Prepaid cardholders can enjoy peace of mind with every purchase they make in over 30 million Visa merchants and every cash withdrawal at the two million ATMs located in 200 countries and territories worldwide,” it said.

The chip could also provide a competitive advantage as it could support applications such as secure internet access for e-commerce, loyalty schemes and secure site access.

“Using chip cards may also offer longterm cost savings as at they are more robust than magnetic stripe cards, thus the frequency of replacing the cards is reduced,” it said.

Sterling Bank of Asia started its banking operations on March 30, 2007 in response to the government’s mandate to create specialized financial institutions that would support the development and growth of the small and medium enterprise sector.