HCMC – From March 31, 2021, all new ATM cards must be chip-based ones and not magnetic cards, according to the State Bank of Vietnam’s (SBV’s) draft circular amending and supplementing Circular 19/2016 on bank card operations.
Earlier, the central bank had proposed that all active ATM cards must be chip ones by December 31, 2021. Thus, SBV has shortened the time to switch to chip cards by nine months, the local media reported.
According to SBV, the move is aimed at encouraging local banks to issue chip cards early and arrange resources to support customers to convert magnetic cards to chip cards to prevent an interruption to their use of ATM cards.
The draft circular is also expected to prevent banks from continuing to issue magnetic cards for customers, affecting the roadmap to replace magnetic cards with chip ones by 2021.
The switch to chip cards is a trend among many markets worldwide to strengthen the security of customers’ information as well as prevent the loss of data and fraud.
As of September 30 this year, more than 20 commercial banks in Vietnam have converted magnetic cards to chip cards. The number of chip cards has reached 7.4 million. In addition, 199,000 points of sale and 12,000 automated teller machines have been upgraded to accept payments via chip cards, according to the National Payment Corporation of Vietnam.
