KUALA LUMPUR, DEC 20: Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) has denied reports that ATM cardholders will be charged a fee and will not be able to use their cards for cash withdrawals, if the cards have not been replaced with new pin-based cards.
Below is a media release issued by Bank Negara Malaysia:
Recently, there have been some media reports and social media postings claiming that cardholders will be charged a fee and will not be able to use their ATM cards for cash withdrawals if they do not replace their ATM cards with the new PIN-based cards.
Bank Negara Malaysia wishes to state that this is not true.
The replacement of the existing signature-based payment cards with the new PIN-based cards is an industry initiative, aimed to further enhance the security of the use of payment cards at point-of-sale (POS) terminals in merchant outlets.
Bank Negara Malaysia would also like to convey our earlier message that the current initiative to migrate to PIN-based payment cards for transactions at POS terminals is to improve security and protect the interests of cardholders.
Therefore, members of the public should not delay the replacement of their cards.
Members of the public will be able to replace their ATM cards at their banks for free. ATM cards in Malaysia double up as debit cards which allow cardholders to make purchases at POS terminals.
Members of the public who have not replaced their ATM cards can continue to use their existing cards for cash withdrawals at the ATMs.
With regards to the usage of ATM cards as debit cards for purchase transactions at POS terminals, banks are required to provide cardholders with adequate notice and a reasonable time period for the replacement of cards before disabling the existing cards for such transactions.
Banks have been progressively replacing their customers’ signature-based payment cards with PIN-based cards and aim to complete this exercise by 1 January 2017.
This will provide cardholders with a six-month period to adapt to the usage of PIN-based cards at merchants’ POS terminals.
Effective 1 July 2017, all payment card transactions conducted using locally issued payment cards at POS terminals in Malaysia can only be completed with a PIN entry. Signature verification will no longer be facilitated.
Further details on the migration to PIN-based cards can be obtained from Bank Negara Malaysia’s website at
http://www.bnm.gov.my/index.php?ch=en_announcement&pg=en_announcement&ac=472&lang=en.
If you have any further queries, please contact Bank Negara Malaysia through the following channels:
BNMLINK, Blok D, Bank Negara Malaysia, Jalan Dato’ Onn, 50480 Kuala Lumpur
BNMTELELINK
Tel: 1-300-88-5465
Faks: 03-2174 1515
E-mel: [email protected]
SMS: 15888
Replace ATM cards for safer payment transactions
