Many banks have recently announced they are stopping transactions of domestic automated teller machine (ATM) cards with magnetic strips, to ensure security for customers in the context of increasing cybercrimes.

The banking sector hopes that by 2025, the volume of mobile payment transactions will grow by 50 - 80 percent while transaction value will surge 80 - 100 percent annually.

Vietnamese banks will only be allowed to issue chip cards from March 31, 2021, according to a State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) draft circular.

Vietnamese banks will only be allowed to issue chip cards from March 31, 2021, according to a State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) draft circular.

Banks have embarked on the conversion of magnetic payment cards into chip cards for greater security, but the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly slowed down their efforts, making it difficult for them to meet the deadline.

Despite high costs, domestic banks are issuing more chip cards that meet EMV standards to replace magnetic strip cards in order to improve security and meet the central bank’s regulations.

The Bank of Thailand has advised holders of debit cards and ATM cards with magnetic stripes, to use chip cards instead, as transactions via ATMs or card swiping machines, will no longer be possible after January 15, 2020.

The State Bank of Vietnam has instructed banks to quickly carry out a plan to convert all magnetic cards into chip cards to prevent fraud.