Paynet Group, a card processor and electronic payments solutions provider, says it will launch a new chip and PIN card issuing facility in East Africa by early November, in a move designed to boost banks’ anti-fraud measures.
The firm says the facility will launch EMV Chip Cards by early November.
East African Banks lost around US$ 48.3 million to fraud in the eighteen months ended June this year, equivalent to to a full year’s profit for a small or medium-sized Kenyan bank, much of which could have been saved through tougher anti-fraud systems.
Bernard Matthewman, Paynet Group’s chief executive, said that the Paynet Processing Centre will serve multiple banks within the region at a low cost per card and will be able to support programs by individual banks that may opt for moving their customers to EMV Chip.
Europay, MasterCard and Visa (EMV) union ensures security and global interoperability. The two partnered to launch the EMV Chip and Pin to counter fraud, card skimming and counterfeiting.
The firm says it has agreed with a bank to issue the multifunction EMV Chip cards, which it says have been specially manufactured against counterfeiting.
Matthewman added that the EMV Chip and PIN cards will reduce risk by countering fraud.
“By upgrading early we are well positioned to offer EMV Chip issuing services to banks as an alternative to them going through an expensive and resource intensive upgrade,” he he said.
Paynet Group already works in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda. The Visa and MasterCard EMV Chip upgrade will be for both pre-paid, debit and credit cards and feature enhanced online fraud monitoring and 3D secure services.
