Sirithida Phanomwan na Ayutthaya, an Assistant Governor of the Bank of Thailand in the Payment Policy and Financial Technology section, said yesterday (Sept 18) that the use of chip cards provides more safety assurances than debit or ATM cards and prevents the use of fake cards which might contain data from stolen debit or ATM cards via ATMs.
Since 2016, the Bank of Thailand has cooperated with the Thai Bankers Association and other financial institutions to encourage the use of chip cards instead of debit or ATM cards with magnetic strips, to be on par with international standards.
All debit cards and ATM cards are expected to be replaced by the end of this year since they will no longer be usable at ATMs or card swiping machines after Jan 15, 2020.
According to financial institutions, about 47 million chip cards are currently in use, while about 20mn magnetic-striped cards are currently used nationwide.
The Bank of Thailand has called on the holders of debit or ATM cards with magnetic stripes to contact any branch of their bank to change their cards by producing their ID card, debit or ATM card and bank account book.
No service fee is charged.
Those who don’t change their magnetic-striped cards to chip cards will no longer be able to use them with ATMs or card swiping machines after Jan 15, 2020, the central bank warned.
However, they may still withdraw or transfer money at a bank or transfer money using mobile or internet banking.
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