Clients urged to claim EMV debit cards as deadline nears

MANILA, Philippines — With only two weeks left before the June 30 deadline for the mandatory shift to the Europay, Mastercard, Visa (EMV) technology, a significant number of clients have yet to visit their bank branches to claim their cards and update their personal information.

Mary Ann Ducanes, president of the Bank Marketing Association of the Philippines (BMAP), said clients are encouraged to visit their branch of account to claim their EMV-enabled cards.

Ducanes said banks have produced the EMV cards and have intensified communication efforts through various channels to notify their clients on the claim dates and process.

“While substantial percentage of claim has been achieved to date, the challenge is for the remaining bank clients to go to their issuing banks to claim their EMV cards,” she said.

Despite the efforts of the banking industry and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to raise awareness on the replacement of payment cards, Ducanes told The STAR bank clients have yet to claim their EMV-equipped cards.

“There is no consolidated figure yet. It varies per bank ranging from 60 to 80 percent,” she said.

Ducanes said magnetic stripe cards would be deactivated in due time.

EMV is the global standard for credit, debit, and prepaid card payments using the chip card technology. EMV chip-based payment card is a more secure alternative to traditional magnetic stripe payment cards.

As early as 2014, the BSP pushed the banking industry toward full adoption of EMV technology to elevate security standards to prevent card fraud and skimming.

BMAP also advised the banking public to likewise update their contact details and cooperate with their issuing banks for the replacement of their magnetic stripe cards with EMV-chip-compliant cards.

BSP Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. had said clients should cooperate to fully complete the migration to the safer and more secure EMV technology.

“They (banks) are going to comply. The challenge is a bank may have already been ready with EMV and have already put out the notices. But the final step actually involves the customer,” Espenilla said.