STRATEGIC PARTNERS
August 29, 2002
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- NCR Malaysia Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of NCR Corporation, says that a move to chip-based ATM cards by next year will be one of the biggest projects handled by NCR in Asia-Pacific.
According to a report in the Star Online, C. Arulselvam, NCR Malaysia's country manager for financial solutions division, told a media conference that more than 2,000 ATMs needed to be upgraded and a further 1,000 new machines would be introduced by Dec 31.
With the government's strong support for smart card conversion, he said Malaysians should be carrying a chip-based smart card which would also include ATM, debit and credit card functions by the year 2003.
He said that NCR had provided the ATM application for the Touch n' Go Smart Card for Bumiputra-Commerce Bank Bhd (BCB), as well as the Payment Multi-Purpose Card (PMPC) for BCB, Maybank and several other financial institutions. NCR also holds a partnership with BCB and the National Registration Department for the ATM applications for the Government Multi-Purpose Card (GMPC).
According to Arulselvam, about 80 percent of all new installations have been the Personas 70, an indoor through-the-wall model.
The Malaysian government is backing a move to smart cards at the ATM after a month-long crime spree in June that police believe was the work of a skimming syndicate in which 397 ATM card holders in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor lost RM1.2 million ($316,000) in illegal transactions.
Police believe the thieves placed skimming devices in card readers on ATMs to trace cardholder details, while a spy camera was used to record bank customers inputting their PINs. Using this information, the syndicate created forged cards and made illegal withdrawals with them.
Several Malaysian banks temporarily suspended their links with the inter-bank Malaysian Electronic Payment System (MEPS) and began limiting maximum daily cash withdrawals to RM1,000 ($268) in response to the skimming incidents.
BCB has already begun a pilot chip-card project, with plans to migrate its ATMs completely by the end of this year. Another bank, RHB Bank Bhd, said it will invest RM40 million (approximately $10.5 million) to upgrade its ATMs to use chip technology by the end of the year.
