The Bankers Association of the Philippines has advised the public to check if their ATM and debit cards are already EMV (Euromoney MasterCard Visa) chip-enabled for added security features and safer transactions.

BAP managing director Cesar O. Virtusio said holding an EMV chip-enabled card allows the banking public a more secured transaction field.

“This upgrade on ATM and debit cards was created to protect customer information, reduce card fraud and maintain interoperability of payment networks,” he said.

With its 41 member banks, Virtusio said that most banks have already migrated or are currently in the process of migrating into the new system replacing old magnetic stripe cards into EMV-chip enabled cards.

“Steps have already been taken, it is not easy to migrate into a new system – we have to take into account the volume of transactions and the amount of workload in the process of migration,” he explained.

ATM and debit cardholders are encouraged to check announcements from their respective banks to ensure uninterrupted transactions. Consequently, the organization requests the full cooperation of the banking public for a successful implementation of the security and system enhancement feature.

Virtusio said that banks are very proactive in ensuring the safety of their clients’ accounts and the migration to EMV chip-enabled cards was triggered by the observed increase in identity theft cases and phishing schemes, while skimmers have become more creative in finding ways to steal money from the public.

“It is the banks’ responsibility to protect their depositors’ money and this technology migration is a manifestation of that commitment to the public,” he added.

The final deadline for the full adoption and migration to EMV technology is on June 30, 2018 as mandated by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).