DUBAI // Credit card issuers are clamping down on security, phasing out a payment system that does not require a PIN or signature by the end of the year.
The system for credit card sales of less than Dh100, commonly used in supermarkets and cafes, will stop as credit cards are replaced by new ones with chips that require PINs.
“The facility is ideal for merchants that have a large number of low-value transactions and have to move customers quickly through their tills,” said Marcello Baricordi, UAE general manager at Visa.
“Globally, there are tens of thousands of companies that offer this facility.”
The Central Bank has ordered that all credit and debit cards have chips by the end of this year. Banks say the new cards are much more secure.
A spokesman for Emirates NBD, which expects to meet that deadline, said people with the older cards could keep using the service until their cards expired.
“In the UAE, the programme is currently available at select outlets of Spinneys and Waitrose supermarkets,” the spokesman said.
“By this approach, high-traffic retailers are able to save on time at the checkout and thus provide better customer experience.
“Customers should not be worried about this as long as they take proper precautions in handling their cards.”
The system is known as Visa Easy Payment Service (Veps) and the Mastercard version is called the Quick Payment Service.
To reduce the chances of fraud, the Veps system requires that the cardholder be present during the sale. If the card has been reported lost or stolen the sale is declined.
Another system, contactless payment, has been growing in popularity around the world although it is relatively new to the UAE.
Visa’s PayWave system requires a special card that is simply tapped on to a reader before the purchase goes through.
It is popular in the UK where payments of up to Dh122 can be made, although it sometimes requires a PIN to be entered.
Last year Visa urged chip-and-pin cards to be fast tracked in the UAE. That was after a US$45 million (Dh165.2m) cyber heist on RAK Bank and Bank of Muscat.
The incident highlighted a poor level of fraud detection that did not allow banks to be informed of the illegal use of credit and debit cards in real time.
Suspects were accused of using prepaid debit cards issued by the two banks to withdraw millions of dollars from ATMs in New York City in a 24-hour period.
nhanif@thenational.ae
