Business News
Singapore banks eye fraud-proof ATMs, credit cards
By DPA
Dec 4, 2006, 1:56 GMT

Singapore - Singapore banks are interested in embedding their credit and automatic-teller machine (ATM) cards with microchips that will make them virtually fraud-proof, they said Monday.

Already in use in Britain and Western Europe, the cards are more secure than standard cards because they are much more difficult to forge. Chip-embedded cards also require a personal-identification number (PIN).

OCBC Bank told The Straits Times it is evaluating plans to implement the technology. DBS Bank said it will start embedding chips in its credit and debit cards next year.

'The decision to introduce chip-and-PIN cards will have an impact beyond OCBC Bank and the banking industry,' spokesman Patrick Chew was quoted as saying. 'Not only do ATMs and ATM cards need to be upgraded, all retail payment terminals have to be changed.'

United Overseas Bank said it was evaluating new security technologies.

Recent cases of ATM skimming and credit-card fraud have high- lighted the relative ease with which cards with magnetic strips can be copied using skimming devices placed on ATM machines and users' PINs captured with tiny cameras.

The adoption by British banks of the chip-and-PIN technology has prompted forgers to go abroad to regions that do not have the technology, including parts of Asia, the report said.

Six Sri Lankans were sentenced last month in Singapore to prison terms ranging from between four to 10 years, for withdrawing more than 350,000 Singapore dollars (224,000 US dollars) from UOB ATMS in the city-state using fake cards carrying information about account holders in Britain.

Court documents obtained by the newspaper revealed that the Monetary Authority of Singapore was concerned that the city-state's status as a financial hub could be tarnished if the country remains vulnerable to fraud.