STRATEGIC PARTNERS
June 26, 2002
PETALING JAYA, Malaysia -- Bumiputra Commerce Bank Bhd (BCB) has discontinued its links with the inter-bank network Malaysian Electronic Payment System (MEPS), after a recent spate of incidents which saw customers losing a total of RM1.2mil ($316,000) from their bank accounts. (See related story Malaysian authorities warn banks about ATM fraud)
Now, BCB cardholders can only withdraw money from its own ATMs and not from those linked to the MEPS network.
The bank's-president for communications Joyce Ha said the bank decided on the move on June 21. She told The Star that it was a temporary measure to protect the interest of the bank's customers but would continue for an unspecified length of time.
"Only 59 BCB customers were exposed to skimming activities at ATMs of other banks,'' Ha said. "If it is proven that the withdrawals were made using cloned cards, the bank is ready to reimburse the customers by crediting their accounts."
In addition, the bank has installed an auto-alert system to monitor the routine patterns of customer withdrawals, Ha said, and has begun a pilot project in which 2,000 ATM cards with embedded microchip were introduced for its staff.
Ha said chip-based cards will be available to customers in the Klang Valley by the middle of July and to others in stages. The bank has only 100 non-chip enabled ATMs, which will be converted to chip by December, she said.
Eventually, the present magnetic-stripe ATM cards will be replaced with the chip-based ones, which are known as Payment Multi Purpose Cards (PMPC).
