Nigerian Bank customers travelling to countries that use magnetic stripe cards such as the United States will from February 1, 2015 have to obtain temporary magnetic stripe cards for the duration of their travel from their respective banks.

This is following a circular issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to all deposit money banks and made available yesterday, in its bid to curb card present fraud in non EMV environments.

EMV are chip and pin cards used in many countries but not unused in countries such as the United States where the magnetic stripe cards are still in use. The CBN in the circular directed banks that from February 01, 2015, “only customers that expressly indicated their intension of traveling to non-EMV jurisdictions, would have their cards default to the magnetic stripe and for the period indicated by the cardholder only.”

According to the apex bank, “the occurrence of card present fraud in Non-EMV environments is on the increase, especially when International hybrid cards issued by Nigerian banks are used in non-EMV environments like the USA.

To this end, it said all deposit money bank should collate all their card frauds abroad and send to CBN not later than January 30, 2015. “Subsequently, all data on card fraud occurring abroad should be rendered on the NIBSS fraud portal.”

It also directed that banks implement Anti-fraud solution on their cards management system, not later than January 30, 2015, adding that banks ensure that their customers are adequately educated while carrying out regular awareness campaign to cardholders on tips to avoid fraud in non-EMV environment.

The circular which was signed by the CBN director, Banking and Payments System Department, Dipo Fatokun enjoined banks to ensure strict compliance on PCIDSS and their vendors/partners involved in card processing activities.