According to several media sources, the Kenyan central bank has set September 30 2013 as the deadline for commercial banks to migrate from magnetic stripe to EMV smart chip for ATM, debit and credit cards.
Kenya’s Bankers Association (KBA) does not have data on the exact number of money lost as the result of card crimes, but chief executive Habil Olaka said the move follows numerous loopholes in current magnetic strip technology, making it easy for fraudsters to make illegal transactions.
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Olaka added: "The Kenyan banking industry will spend over Sh2bn ($23.6m) on the process".
KBA last year started an ATM safety awareness campaign dubbed ‘Kaa Chonjo’, educating customers on protecting their PINs and other relevant card information.
"We know that systems are still vulnerable and that is why we have this campaign to educate the consumer public on basic tips that one need to be aware of when you enter and ATM lobby or while making any transactions using other cards," he said.
According to independent ATM network, PesaPoint Limited, its fleet of ATMs deployed across Kenya have been EMV-Chip compliant for over three years.
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By GlobalData"We upgraded the systems at our ATMs in 2010 to comply with EMV Chip standards for acquiring networks soon after our parent company, Paynet Group warned of likely increase in card fraud in the country," said md Richard Coate.
Coate added that the upgrade has resulted in PesaPoint ATMs reporting low-to-zero fraud levels.
The network allows for processing of both cards, meaning that Paynet ATM’s continue to accept the old magnetic stripe cards that are issued by 95% of Kenyan banks.
"Banks and other financial institutions are well advised to upgrade their ATMs and issue their customers with EMV Chip cards to add to the security that they offer. We fully welcome the guidelines issued by the Kenya bankers association (KBA) to industry for migration to EMV Chip," he said.
According to the Central Bank Kenya (CBK) there are more than nine million ATM and debit card holders in Kenya who can use their cards at approximately 2,300 ATMs and 18,400 point of sale units in the country.
Last year, there were more than 10.7 million ATM, credit and debit cards in circulation representing a six percent increase over the previous year with the value of ATM transactions alone going beyond Sh156 billion.
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