A common timetable for the replacementof magnetic cards with chip cards is being considered by the State Bankof Vietnam.

Under the plan, chip cards with the EMVstandard, which is already used by the world’s largest card alliancesof Europay, Master Card and Visa, would be applied to internationalpayment cards while domestic payment chip cards would w2ork to astandard suitable for Vietnam.

Statistics to June indicate there were 8,800 ATMs and 28,300 POS(points of sale) in Vietnam. The more than 17 million cards on issuehad 176 brand names issued by 41 payment service companies.

Most ATM cards used in Vietnam have magnetic security technology andonly a small number of banks use chip security technology.

The State Bank said chip security technology was used in most developedcountries as chip cards or smart cards with embedded microchips. Thereallowed banks to expand the services they offered and provide bettersecurity options.

With these advantages, the world’s main card alliances have recommendedall countries use chip cards, especially as card fraud was risingrapidly.

Card fraud in Vietnam is about 0.15 percent of the country’s total cardpayments, about a quarter of the world average.

It was becoming a serious problem in regional economies such asMalaysia and Thailand . Due to the increasing fraud, Malaysia , Japanand Taiwan have recently replaced all magnetic cards with chip cardsand Thailand was expected to shortly complete replacement.

International experts have told Vietnam that without a preventive plan,the country could become a destination for international cardcriminals.

Domestic banks said it was difficult to synchronise a massivereplacement due to high costs and time and that as well as replacingcards, they would also have to upgrade computer networks and paymentportals to make them compatible with the new technology.

Nguyen Thu Ha, chairman of Bank Card Association, said if chip cardswere used in Vietnam, the financial switching system would also needto be upgraded to ATMs’ could “talk” to each other.

Industry insiders estimated a new ATM would cost tens of thousands ofdollars, and a POS machine about 100 USD. A magnetic strip costs a bank0.2 USD, about a fifth of the chip outlay.

Banknetvn general director Ngo Ngoc Dong said the replacement ofmagnetic cards with chip cards would need a detailed itinerary assimultaneous replacement would be difficult and not all banks could doit.

Dong said it would be better to approach replacement on a smallerscale. He estimated it would take the country up to three years tocomplete the replacement./.