Bank Negara: Don’t wait for deadline day to replace credit cards

Cash flow equally important after sale is made.

MIRI: Holders of credit or debit cards must start replacing their signature-based cards to the new ones that use PIN (personal identification number) before the anticipated rush as the year-end deadline looms.

Bank Negara Malaysia and bank industry players are worried that there will be massive congestion if cardholders wait until the last minute to replace their cards.

More than eight million credit cards and 24 million active debit cards need to be replaced under the exercise, the central bank’s payment systems policy department director Tan Nyat Chuan told a press conference here after a road show on e-payment system Tuesday.

He said cardholders can avoid the mad rush by replacing their cards now.

Accompanying him at the roadshow was Association of Banks Malaysia executive director Chuah Mei Lin and National Cards Group chairman B. Ravintharan.

Tan said the PIN-based cards have tighter security features, including a microchip that cannot be forged.

“From January 2017, all e-payment cards must be PIN-based while signature-based cards are phased out,” he said, adding that after the Dec 31 deadline, the public, banks and businesses will have six months to practise the use of the new cards.

The signature-based system will be turned off on July 1 next year.