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From Costa Mano in BARCELONA, Spain

PLAYERS in the financial sector in Zimbabwe that issue debit and credit cards will soon be making a transition from magnetic stripe cards (magstripe) to Europay, Mastercard and Visa technology to curb cloning of bank cards and related frauds which have been on the rise in the country.

Over 90 percent of the Point of Sale (POS) machines available in the Zimbabwean market are already chip-capable.

Speaking to The Herald on the sidelines of the ongoing Mastercard Connecting Tomorrow 2018 Forum in Barcelona, Spain, payments technology company, Zimswitch Technologies deputy general manager Zabron Chilakalaka, said in terms of an industrial roadmap, Zimswitch would be making a transition from January 1 2019.

He said this would be complemented by a liability shift wherein a card issuer who has issued magstripe and has not converted would assume the liability for fraudulent transactions. This would also see acquirers having to enable their terminals to recognise chip, failing which the acquirer bears liability.

“One of the challenges found in our local market has been that of card cloning, especially emanating from the magstripe and here at the conference the issue of security is key. Looking at various layers of security and as a start Zimswitch has embarked on local chip and Personal Identification Number (PIN) solution to replace the magstripe. This has been driven by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ),” said Mr Chilakalaka.

Mr Chilakalaka said over 90 percent of the Point of Sale (POS) machines available in the Zimbabwean market were already chip capable.

“We did a survey looking at the market and it’s only a configuration that has to be made to enable the POS machine to default to chip,”

Mr Chilakalaka said, as Zimswitch, the Mastercard conference has offered them an opportunity to learn and look at what developments have happened globally.

Mr Simon Hunt

While some banks have issued chip-based cards to extend global transacting convenience for their customers most people transacting in Zimbabwe using debit cards still use the magstripe cards.

“We are saying Zimbabwe is open for business and that comes with the country having to be up there in terms of payment technology. There are quite a number of solutions that have happened elsewhere that we wish to replicate for our market so we make the payment experience exciting. We are looking beyond the traditional options of card,” said Mr Chilakalaka.

Meanwhile in an interview, Mr Simon Hunt, executive vice president of Cybersecurity Product Innovation at Mastercard, said there has never been a successful attack on an EMV chipped card.

Mastercard has over 12 solutions to help block the monetisation of cybercrime. Mastercard SecureCode, for example, allows a two-factor authentication. This provides Mastercard cardholders with an additional layer of security as they need to enter a security code or One Time PIN from their issuing bank before their online transaction is authorized.

Mr Hunt said Mastercard uses a risk-versus-experience equation when designing payment solutions.

A panel of experts discusses Rethinking Risk for a Connected World on Wednesday.

“NuData Security is also a recent acquisition by Mastercard which uses biometrics that go beyond facial or thumbprint recognition. This product understands the behavior of the owner of a mobile phone like how they hold their handset or how fast they type,” said Mr Hunt.

Mr Hunt said a typical cash-out attack is around ten times secure when using Mastercard SafetyNet technology as it literally allows them to turn off ATMs.

“With ThreatScan, where we actually send transactions through merchants and banks, we can make sure all the rules are working properly. One of the classic hacker behaviors is that they go through a bank network and turnoff the rules, or change the rules such as withdrawal limits.

“We have a system that continuously validates whether those rules are working properly. Brighterion, which is an Artificial Intelligence system, allows us to look for unusual spend behavior. We don’t see what people buy but we do see the total value of what they buy, typical spending behavior, patterns, locations and so on,” said Mr Hunt.

Mr Hunt said the goal is to elevate the whole franchise as they want to make everyone who uses Mastercard safer without destroying the great experiences.

“We are not trying to make elite solutions for the few. We are trying to make solutions that everybody can benefit from. Cybercrime is US$1.5 trillion a year and it’s not going to teenagers in hoodies. It’s going to criminals in organised crime to fund guns and human trafficking and so on. We want to stop that,” said Mr Hunt.

The two-day conference brings digital evangelists who are pioneering the next generation of digital solutions and creating the “Road Map for the Future” – the theme of this year’s event.