News

Kenya's Family Bank strikes agreements with Paynet

September 24, 2012

Kenya's Family Bank has signed several contracts  with regional card processor and payments services provider, Paynet Group. The announcement was made by the two companies at a Nairobi hotel and follows Paynet's upgrade of its card issuing and processing platform.

The agreements cover Visa EMV chip card-issuing services and connection to the PesaPoint network — the nation's third-largest ATM network. Connection to PesaPoint will bring the bank's own ATMs to the network and enable China Union Pay, MasterCard, M-PESA and Visa acquiring, said an article by Standard Media.

"This makes Family Bank the first customer for our EMV Chip card issuing facility, which we are offering as a result of the recent investment in our card processing platform," said Bernard Matthewman, Paynet Group CEO, during the program launch at a Nairobi hotel.

The major card companies have been pushing East African FIs to migrate from magnetic stripe to EMV chip and PIN cards to increase transaction security, the article said. A rise in fraud has reduced consumer confidence in bankcards as payment instruments.

"Taking the lead with EMV Chip and PIN based transaction authorization will go a long way in boosting the confidence of our cardholders by offering a more secure environment for card payments," said Family Bank CEO, Peter Munyiri.

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