KUALA LUMPUR, May 19 – All locally-issued credit cards have been replaced with those requiring personal identification numbers (PIN), Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) said today.
It also said 96.1 per cent of debit cards have been replaced while 99.8 per cent of point-of-sale terminals have been upgraded ahead of the July 1 deadline when signature authorisations will no longer be accepted.
“No extension will be granted,” BNM governor Datuk Muhammad Ibrahim told reporters here.
With just nearly 40 days left, Muhammad told the public to contact their issuing banks if they have not replaced their cards.
The migration to PIN from signature, which has started since last year, is part of a worldwide shift that has been implemented in Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, with the Middle East also making the similar move.
Association of Banks in Malaysia (ABM) executive director Chuah Mei-Lin was reported saying that the PIN verification would be more effective in preventing unauthorised use when a card is stolen or lost.
