(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), Qatar's leading and safest Islamic Bank, has brought in a new level of security to protect customers' credit
and debit cards from fraudulent transactions when travelling abroad.
All of QIB's credit and debit cards carry both a magnetic strip on the reverse side, and an electronic micro-chip embedded in their surface.
Both contain information specific to the customer and his account; but because of the features provided by the microchip and the way they work, chip feature in the card is the most secure solution available to prevent duplication of cards or of skimming data from them.
Most merchants in the USA and some in Asia Pacific are still reliant on the magnetic strip to process their card transactions whereas most European, Africa, Middle East and Latin America countries are using chip-based processing.
A chip based card, on the other hand, has a built-in microchip which performs the same transactions as that of a magnetic strip but in a much more secure way.
Chip card technology offers increased security because it reduces the risk of card skimming.
Also chip credit card transactions are authenticated by a personal identification number (PIN) instead of a signature, which adds an additional level of security.
In Qatar all transactions are chip and pin transactions.
As part of QIB's commitment to enhance the security of electronic payment cards, all
magnetic strip transactions will now be permanently blocked outside Qatar on both debit and credit Cards with immediate effect.
Only chip based transactions will be allowed, unless customers specifically ask for the magnetic strips on their cards to be activated while they travel abroad.
Customers will not be able to use the magnetic strip feature unless they confirm to the Bank prior to their travel, the destination and period in order to activate their card accordingly.
Should a customer wish to activate the use of the magnetic strip outside Qatar, he, she needs first to call 44448444 and specify all the countries to which he intends to travel and plans to use his QIB cards, together with his travel dates, both departure and return to Qatar, and also specify if he wants to activate the magnetic strip for point-of-sale, or automatic teller machines, or for both.
D Anand, General Manager of QIB's Personal Banking Group, explained that "this is another layer of security that QIB is implementing to provide a safer banking experience."
"Our aim is to protect our clients' information and card details when they travel as we have noticed that all fraudulent cases are happening outside the country and are heavily relying on the magnetic strip feature in order to access the customers' data," he said.
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.