The number of credit and debit card skimming incidents in
Zimbabwe has been increasing on year to year basis at an alarming rate and the
impact of cases reported in the past has been huge.
Visa set the path for the US payments industry to begin the
shift to EMV® (which stands for Europay, Mastercard and Visa) chip cards in
2011.One of the leading factors of encouraging the adoption of chip technology
in 2015 was its effectiveness in reducing counterfeit fraud, which was the
primary type of fraud in the United States at the time.
Speaking at the 2019 Monetary Policy Statement, Dr Mangudya said that all financial institutions are supposed to be compliant with this move and ensure that all cards issued EMV compliant by 31 March 2019.
EMV stands for Europay, MasterCard, and Visa, the credit
card behemoths who dominate the sector and developed the global standard for
chip-based security. EMV has come to represent every credit card with chip,
even those issued by smaller companies.
Following the credit card scam incidents, the Central Bank
directed all banks to introduce the EMV technology. The technology features
payment instruments, such as cards and mobile phones with embedded microprocessor
chips that store and protect cardholder data.
According to RBZ , currently over 80% of the card infrastructure in the country is now EMV compliant.
Before the introduction of the EMV technology, banks stored
data on the magnetic strip on the back of the card which could easily be stolen
using a skimmer.
