KUALA LUMPUR: Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) is encouraging credit and debit card holders to switch to new PIN-based payment cards by the end of this year as the new PIN-enabled infrastructure will be up and running by January 1, 2017.
The move comes at a time when Malaysia is migrating to PIN-based transactions at Point-of-Sale (POS) terminals nationwide from the current signature-based transaction system.
BNM director of payment systems policy department, Tan Nyat Chuan said there are a total of 25.4 million cards to be replaced to PIN-based.
Of the total, 7.6 million are credit and charge cards and 17.8 million active debit cards.
As at end September 2016, 45 per cent of the total credit and debit cards have been replaced, Tan said.
"BNM is encouraging cardholders to obtain their new PIN-based payment cards. Those who have not obtained their new PIN-based payment cards are advised to contact or visit their banks or non-bank payment card issuers immediately," he said, adding that the new payment cards will be replaced free of charge.
Tan was speaking at a media briefing on the migration to PIN-based payments cards today.
Currently, banks are also progressively upgrading the POS terminals to accept PIN with a target completion date of December 31, 2016.
Tan said from January 1, 2017 onwards, cardholders will be promoted to enter PIN when making payment using cards at POS terminals.
The outdoor payment terminals (OPT) at self-service pump in petrol stations are also being upgraded to accept PIN.
There will be a grace period of seven months from January to July next year for cardholders to get used to using the PIN as payment.
At the same time, the duration would also allow banks and retailers to tweak the teething issues that would arise from the new payment system.
However Tan said cardholders are still encouraged to change their cards by year-end
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