Victoria Mutual Building Society (VMBS) has introduced Europay, MasterCard, and Visa (EMV) card compatibility on its automated teller machine (ATM) network. This change allows account holders from National Commercial Bank and Scotiabank to use their chip-enabled cards at all VM Express 24 iABMs.

Chip card technology or EMV has been a growing trend locally, as more institutions roll out new and improved banking cards to bolster payment security. The Jamaica Observer can confirm that VMBS has retrofitted their VM Express 24 iABMs to become EMV compatible, as part of its ongoing transformation exercise, which includes building out the digitisation of its payments infrastructure. This move will also help VMBS to prepare its network for its own roll-out of international EMV cards later this year.

The conversion will also allow for improved resilience and reduce losses due to heightened security for cardholders using the institution’s ATM network. With the presence of the safer EMV chip cards, the local payments market has also evolved with improvement in the technology of point of sale (POS) machines and ATMs.

EMV cards are equipped with a computer chip used to authenticate transactions, allowing the card to generate a unique encryption string for each transaction, thereby protecting users’ information and reducing the potential for fraud. Traditionally, the magnetic strips on debit and credit cards carry unchanging and sensitive information, which can be skimmed and used by criminals.

EMV chip cards is one way VMBS is offering greater banking security for its customers and the general public. VMBS advises that this conversion of its Express 24 iABMs has been executed as the financial group is “committed to innovating and implementing systems that provide a safe and secure environment for all your transactions”. The building society-led financial group reports that its members will continue to enjoy a range of benefits when they use the VM Express 24 iABMs for transactions.

The global Financial Action Task Force (FATF) cites increased fraud among its evolving money laundering and terrorist-financing risks. This point was articulated in the FATF’s recent publication COVID-19-related Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing, Risk and Policy Response 2020. Here in Jamaica anecdotal evidence suggests that fraud may even have escalated during the novel coronavirus pandemic, with ATMs being a prime target. While customer education is often cited as a key mitigation strategy in the fight against fraud, financial institutions have acknowledged that they have a responsibility to implement measures that provide added protection for their customers.

— Durrant Pate