News

Switch to chips will cost Singapore banks

January 23, 2012

According to a report at businesstimes.com, Singapore banks are counting the cost of boosting card payment security as the industry plans the switch to chip technology in two years' time, following the recent DBS ATM card-skimming incident.

Costs could run into millions of dollars as the switch to chip technology will involve millions of ATM cards, thousands of ATM machines and some 60,000 Nets point-of-sale (POS) terminals. Nets is owned by the local banks.

Converting the ATM cards is likely to cost tens of millions of dollars as the Europay-MasterCard-Visa (EMV) chip card costs around $5 each versus 50 cents for the ATM magnetic strip card.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has issued a stern warning to banks that it holds them responsible for the safety of the system and expects implementation of the measures ahead of the deadline.

"Banks should implement the new measures as soon as they can, and ahead of the industry's timeline where possible," said Wan Aik Chye, director of the MAS specialist risk department. "We expect banks to have in place robust fraud-detection systems to track customer accounts for unusual spending patterns and suspicious transactions."