More banks deactivate non-EMV compliant cards

MANILA, Philippines — More banks continue to deactivate debit cards not equipped with the Europay, Mastercard, and Visa (EMV) chip technology more than six months after the deadline set by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

For one, state-run Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) deactivated magnetic stripe only automated teller machine (ATM) cards last Feb. 1

DBP president and chief executive officer Cecilia Borromeo has urged customers to visit their branch of account to claim the replacement EMV card to avoid inconvenience as magnetic stipe only cards could no longer be used in any ATM or POS terminal.

“We call on our valued DBP account holders to proceed to their servicing branch and obtain their EMV debit/ prepaid card. DBP personnel are also ready to process requests for upgrading of existing magstripe card to EMV,” she said.

The DBP EMV ATM card is equipped with a microprocessor chip that stores and protects cardholder information leading to more secure transactions, protects integrity of customer information, reduces card fraud, and enables the interoperability of payment networks.

DBP is the eighth largest bank in terms of assets and has a total branch network of 137 branches across the archipelago. It has an estimated depositor base of 800,000.

Ayala-led Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) earlier issued an advisory, saying  all ATM or debit cards without the EMV chip will be deactivated on Feb. 18.

“The deactivation of your card will protect you by reducing the risk of counterfeit fraud, and will further improve the security of your account,” BPI said in its website.

BSP said most banks have complied with the mandated shift of the EMV technology by June 30 last year.

EMV is a global security standard for payment transactions that is more secure than a magnetic stripe card wherein stored information is static and can be copied with relative ease and cloned by fraudsters.

Full compliance constitutes completion of all EMV-related activities from upgrading or enhancement of back-end processes and systems, ATM and point of sales (POS) terminals to the replacement of magnetic stripe credit as well as debit or prepaid cards, including distribution of EMV-compliant cards.

As early as 2013, the BSP has ordered banks to eventually shift to the EMV technology through the enhanced information technology risk management.

All BSP supervised financial institutions were given until January 2017 to migrate to EMV technology in order to drastically reduce, if not totally eliminate, fraud due to card skimming and counterfeiting as it provides cardholders better protection from unauthorized access to their accounts.