News

Resona to limit ATM use to fight scams

February 10, 2005

Kyodo News: Resona Holdings Inc. is planning to launch a new service, possibly in the summer, in which customers can designate times for using ATMs by phone. The service is expected to fight against increasing cases of money being withdrawn by forged cash cards, banking sources said.

Under the new system, account holders of Resona group banks can block cash withdrawals not only from ATMs of those banks but also from machines of other banks.

New service users will be required to set their ATM use times with their mobile phones and other devices. They can change the designated time any time and even suspend total use of ATMs, if they wish, according to the sources.

Resona will be the first among major banks to introduce such a system. The method will cost less than other measures envisaged to tackle counterfeit cash card scams, such as launching cards equipped with a microchip that make them harder to forge.

Following a series of cash card frauds and high-tech ways of stealing card data in Japan, banks also are planning to allow customers to set their own limits on the daily allowable amount of cash withdrawn at ATMs and to compensate customers if they are found not to be responsible for losses caused by fraud.