UCPB to deactivate non-EMV cards by next month
THE United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB) is set to deactivate cards that are not yet microchip-enabled by next month pursuant to central bank regulations on migrating to the Europay, Mastercard and Visa (EMV) technology.
In a statement e-mailed to reporters on Thursday, the bank said its automated teller machine (ATM) cardholders have only before Aug. 1 to secure and upgrade their cards to the UCPB Visa Debit/EMV Card as part of the lender’s tighter security measures.
“The bank’s new Visa Debit Card provides our cardholders more security through the EMV chip,” UCPB Vice-President and Marketing Group head Charina D. Balanquit was quoted saying in a statement.
In 2014, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), through BSP Circular 859, announced it will impose the EMV standard on card-issuing entities, originally setting the deadline on Jan. 1, 2017.
However, with most banks yet to fully shift to the platform, the central bank in June gave Philippine lenders up to June 30, 2018 to adopt the EMV technology.
UCPB, the 12th largest bank in asset terms, already finished shifting its systems to EMV technology, with the lender already prepared to issue and process its microchip-enabled cards.
The regulator had warned banks that non-compliance with its tighter EMV guidelines would constitute a “serious offense” that would warrant penalties.
The EMV platform makes use of microchips rather than the traditional magnetic strip found at the back of cards, which are prone to skimming — usually done by illegally tapping into ATM terminals to steal client data. As a result, EMV makes depositors and credit card holders “more secure” against fraud.
In June, BSP Governor Nestor A. Espenilla, Jr. said shifting to the EMV platform is the “long-term” solution against card skimming.
According to BSP data, there are around 76 million debit and prepaid cards in the country while there are 8.5 million credit cards.
Local banks also operate 19,084 ATMs across the country.
In the first quarter of the year, UCPB saw its bottomline reach P958.13 million, higher than the P929.19 million booked in the comparable period a year ago, on the back of robust lending and strong investment activities during the three-month period.
Its total loan portfolio in the first quarter of the year stood at P149.52 billion, 18% up from P126.62 billion logged in the comparable 2016 period. The bank’s total deposits also grew 10% to P255.74 billion in the first three months.
For this, UCPB eyes to book a 20-25% growth in profits versus end-2016’s figures to be driven by higher deposits despite not putting up new branches for the year. — Janine Marie D. Soliman