Banking group Absa has certified its point of sale (POS) acceptance systems and networks in retail outlets with both Visa and MasterCard to ensure acceptance of chip cards.
All South African banks have to migrate to chip card technology by January 2005. The main driver behind the international move from magnetic stripe technology is the need to reduce the possibility of credit and debit card cloning.
Absa says it has progressed well with upgrading its current POS hardware and software with chip functionality to the extent that thousands of terminals have already been upgraded and are processing chip card transactions of foreign cardholders entering the country.
Walter Volker, GM of Absa Group Payment Systems and chairman of the EMV Forum, says Absa will next month issue various card products to a pre-determined number of staff to test the implementation from a credit card, cheque and savings account perspective.
"A successful pilot will result in Absa starting to issue credit and debit cards to its own cardholders by the end of this year."
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