BSP orders banks to install add’l security measures to prevent ATM, card fraud

MANILA, Philippines - The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has ordered banks to step up security measures especially for automated teller machines (ATMs) and point of sale (POS) units amid growing consumer complaints involving card fraud and skimming attacks.

In a memorandum, the BSP directed banks and other BSP-regulated institutions to install additional layers of protection to mitigate fraud involving ATM and POS units.

The central bank said the “establishment of detection process and alert mechanisms for timely and appropriate incident response and action; and use of transaction alerts on withdrawals and other transactions exceeding defined thresholds” will help protect consumers against card fraud.

Skimming refers to an act of stealing information stored in cards through devices hidden in an ATM or POS unit.

The BSP has given banks until Jan. 1, 2017 to migrate their card systems to EMV technology.

EMV, which stands for Europay, Mastercard and Visa, is a global standard for electronic payments based on chip  technology, which is more secure than the older magnetic stripe technology.

“Electronic payment cards (i.e., ATM debit, credit and prepaid cards) are still vulnerable to skimming attacks given the continued use of magnetic stripe technology,” the BSP said.

“Pending migration of the entire payment card network to EMV by Jan. 1, 2017, electronic payment cards remain largely defenseless against modern fraud techniques unless multiple layers of protection are adopted by BSP-supervised institutions,” the central bank said.

But aside from controls that will protect the machines and also having additional process to easily detect any skimming incidents, banks are also required to educate their customers on what measures they can take to guard against card fraud and skimming acts.