December 31, 2021 is the deadline to complete the conversion of magnetic cards to chip cards, but so far, only 30% of domestic cards circulating in the province have been converted. Banks are taking a number of measures to speed up card conversion.
December 31, 2021 is the deadline to complete the conversion of magnetic cards to chip cards, but so far, only 30% of domestic cards circulating in the province have been converted. Banks are taking a number of measures to speed up card conversion.
Change to using chip cards recommended
Ho Thi Mai Trang - Manager of Corporate Department, Vietcombank Khanh Hoa, said that by the end of September, the total number of cards in circulation of the bank was 359,759, including 231,972 domestic cards and 37,787 cards. The number of debit chip cards issued has been 98,785. The bank has a plan to convert chip cards in stages, prioritizing the conversion based on the frequency of use and needs of customers, to ensure the completion of card conversion for customers in accordance with the direction of the State Bank (SBV).
Recently, most banks have many preferential policies to encourage customers to convert magnetic cards to chip cards. For example, Agribank is free to issue domestic chip cards when converting valid cards to chip cards for customers who receive wages through their accounts…Vietcombank also waives the conversion fee for domestic and international debit cards, card issuance and fees for the first year for new Visa card users…
According to statistics of the State Bank - Khanh Hoa Branch, up to now, the total number of chip cards issued and converted accounts for about 30% of total 995,000 domestic cards in circulation in the province.
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Enhancing popularization
According to banks, most customers are worried about the interruption in the use process when participating in card conversion. However, currently, banks still let customers to use magnetic cards while waiting to receive chip cards. In addition, the bank's tellers always inform to customers about the security technology of chip cards, with the ability to encrypt and secure data, and the flexibility to change security parameters to help transactions absolutely safe and minimizes the possibility of the card being copied or counterfeited.
Nguyen Hoai Chieu - Director of the State Bank of Khanh Hoa Branch said that the conversion of magnetic cards to chip cards is a policy of the State Bank to enhance safety and information security for card users and minimize risks in fraud and card information stealing. The transformation roadmap is prescribed by the State Bank of Vietnam in Circular 22/2020 dated December 31, 2020. Accordingly, by December 31, 2021, 100% of ATMs and card-accepting devices at points of sale operating in Vietnam of card payment organizations comply with the basic standards of domestic chip cards; card issuers that must comply with the basic standards on domestic chip cards. In order to convert magnetic cards to chip cards, over the past time, banks in the area have urgently implemented many solutions to encourage and support customers. However, customers can still use magnetic cards for normal transactions, so at present, quite a lot of customers are not interested in changing cards even though banks have announced the deadline for changing cards. In addition, due to the Covid epidemic, the conversion of chip cards was also greatly affected.
In the coming time, banks in the province will continue to take a number of measures to speed up the conversion of chip cards such as calling, sending direct messages to customers, propagandizing on the bank's website, on the Internet, Internet banking, Mobile banking applications on the meaning of card conversion as well as introducing cards with attached utilities; deploy many programs to attract and encourage customers to convert magnetic cards to chip cards, free card exchange, simple and fast card exchange procedures, gifts for customers... Currently, some banks has integrated the card conversion registration function on the digital banking application to impulse card conversion.
Mai Hoang
Translated by T.T
