The
Association of Banks in Malaysia (ABM) is pleased to announce
that banks have completed 100% issuance of their chip
based credit cards. With the completion of this exercise,
ABM Executive Director, Mrs Wong Suan Lye said that the
industry has achieved its own target of an advanced deadline.
As a proactive measure to combat fraud and also to leverage
on the competitive features that chip technology offers,
ABM took the lead and embarked on a migration exercise
at a national level to convert existing magnetic stripe
credit cards to chip-based.
Mrs
Wong added that the successful completion of the issuance
of the chip based credit cards would not have been possible
without the cooperation and support of all involved:
"We are especially grateful that our member banks
and other credit card issuers have worked with so much
focus and single-mindedness on this industry programme.
We have as of todate achieved 100% of our target to
issue chip cards. The level achieved as at end December
2004 was also significant, hitting 96%. With the completion
of this exercise, Malaysia is well in advance of the
January 2006 deadline that was set up by the card brands
Visa and MasterCard for the Asia Pacific region."
The
successful completion of the project makes Malaysia
the first country in the Asia Pacific to adopt chip-based
credit cards fully on a national level.
Dr
Rozali, Chairman of The Association of Banks expressed
that he was very happy with the success achieved. "The
successful completion of the issuance of the chip-based
credit cards signifies a major step for the banking
industry of Malaysia and reflects the mood of the industry
towards adopting new cutting edged technologies to improve
service deliveries. We are grateful to all who have
supported us in this exercise particularly the Central
Bank."
The
key benefits of the new chip-based credit cards are
multi-faceted. The chip has a superior processing technology
that makes counterfeiting and skimming much more difficult
and complex. With the multi-application features of
the chip, banks are presented with opportunities in
the future to develop extra benefits and value added
services for cardholders.
Whilst
Malaysia has upgraded its credit cards to a chip-based
platform, there are countries that have not yet reached
the same level of conversion. To facilitate uninterrupted
credit card transactions overseas, Malaysian-issued
credit cards come with both the chip and magnetic stripe.
Likewise, Malaysian chip-enabled terminals are equipped
to process foreign-issued magnetic stripe cards.
Following
the 100% issuance of their chip-based credit cards,
the last batches of the chip based credit cards have
been released by banks for collection or delivery to
cardholders. Members of the public who have received
notification to collect their credit cards are urged
to collect their cards expediently from the bank branches.
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A special note to Cardholders:
The
Association of Banks would like to thank all credit
cardholders for their support during the chip migration
process. The banks have completed issuance of the chip-based
credit cards. A small portion is still in the process
of delivery to/collection by cardholders. For those
who have yet to receive their chip-based credit cards,
please contact your bank for the collection/delivery
of your cards. For those who have received notification
from the banks to collect their chip-based cards, we
would urge the cardholders to collect their chip-based
cards expediently from the respective bank branches.
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