Banks Eye Chip-Based Cards To Stop Cloning
By CT Hj Mahmod

Bandar Seri Begawan - MasterCard International has come up with a winning strategy against "credit card cloning" with its chip-based smart card technology or EMV cards, which Brunei's credit card industry could be eyeing to introduce in the country.

Standard Chartered Bank's Deputy Head of Consumer Banking, Ms Tiew Siew Chuen, speaking on the migration from magnetic strip-cards to chip-based smart cards, said "the chip card project is part of the EMV standard, developed jointly by Europay, MasterCard and Visa. Standard Chartered Bank has a global project team looking into EMV and we are working closely with the project team to bring in this capability to Brunei".

Brunei's banking sector is aware of MasterCard International's ongoing migration taking place in neighbouring country Malaysia, where its migration has reportedly resulted in fraudulent credit card transactions in Malaysia "taking a plunge".

Star Online, reported the EMV (Europay Mastercard Visa) card transactions in Malaysia increased from 73 per cent in December last year to 84 per cent last month, while fraudulent transaction transactions fell by more than 90 per cent in the same period.

The report cited Jim Cheah, MasterCard vice-president and senior country manager for Malaysia and Brunei, as saying, "We have yet to come across cloning of an EMV card and hope its stays that way".

The most common credit card crime is when fraudsters use their victims' credit cards to make multiple purchases.

This is commonly known as the `cloning' of credit cards which happens when fraudsters manage to get hold of the relevant credit card information found embedded within the magnetic strip at the back of a card.

EMV card is sought as a security measure against fraudulent credit card transaction, and because of this Brunei's credit card industry is moving towards this shift, said another source from one of the country's leading banks.

The chip-based smart card technology allows several applications, such as credit, debit, ATM, cash and loyalty to be made on a single password-protected card. Thus, it will significantly reduce card fraud.

Starting from 2006, the liability for fraudulent credit card transactions involving magnetic-strip cards will shift from credit card companies, such as MasterCard, to the non-EMV compliant party. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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