BDO urges account holders to get EMV-chip cards

In a statement, BDO Executive Vice President and Transaction Banking head Edwin G. Reyes said the bank aims to give their account holders holistic protection against fraud. (Photo: By Hans Olav Lien – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0)

MANILA— Sy-led Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. (BDO) is urging its account holders to apply for their EMV-chip powered debit cards to further protect them against criminals who target electronic banking activities.

In a statement, BDO Executive Vice President and Transaction Banking head Edwin G. Reyes said the bank aims to give their account holders holistic protection against fraud.

“But to achieve this, clients must obtain their EMV chip debit card which is now available at their branch of account free of charge,” he said.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has given banks until June 30, 2018 to fully comply with the use of EMV-enabled automated teller machine (ATM) cards after domestic banks failed to meet the original deadline of January 1, 2017. Banks that fail to meet the deadline will be penalized.

Despite failure of most banks to meet the January 1, 2017 EMV-compliance deadline, BSP Governor Nestor A. Espenilla Jr. earlier said some financial institutions had improved their multi-factor authentication  (MFA) system to increase their capacity against cyber attacks.

BDO said that aside from upgrading its ATM terminals and Point-of-Sale (PoS) terminals into EMV, the banks have to eventually deactivate all their magnetic strip-only debit cards.

It said all its almost 4,000 ATMs nationwide have been EMV-certified in October, making BDO the first bank to fully shift its ATM network ready for EMV transactions.

“Other enhancements are targeted for completion within the first half of 2018,” it said.