Wednesday 10 July 2013

Sanusi: Biometric Authentication of ATMs, PoS to Commence in 2015

1606N.-Lamido-Sanusi.jpg - 1606N.-Lamido-Sanusi.jpg
Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi Tuesday declared that the biometric authentication of Point of Sales (PoS) terminals and Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) will commence in 2015.

He said the move was aimed at addressing concerns over the safety of customers’ funds and also to avoid losses through compromise of Personal Identification Number (PIN).
 
Speaking in Abuja at the opening of a stakeholders' meeting on cashless policy, Sanusi said the CBN had taken concrete steps to regain the confidence of ATM consumers by ordering the migration from Magstripe debit cards to Chip and Pin (EMV compliance) debit cards.
 
"Statistics show that this effort has reduced the fraud incidences by 90 per cent. Many customers are now embracing these of electronic (ATM and POS) channels in their transactions because of near impossible efforts of would be fraudsters in being able to clone debit cards to perpetrate fraud as it was the case during the pre-migration era," he said.

The CBN governor also assured bank customers that the current high cost of lending and other forms of charges would be drastically reduced following the successful implementation of the cashless policy initiative being promoted by the central bank.

 He blamed such charges, which were often passed on to the customers, on the "escalating cash management cost" resulting from a cash-dominated economy.
 
Sanusi said: "The Nigerian economy is heavily cash-oriented in transactions of goods and services (especially retail transactions) which is not in line with the global trend, considering Nigeria's ambition to be amongst the top 20 economies by the year 2020."

 He added that the country must stand against emerging security threats occasioned by a cashless society.
 
"No doubt, with the introduction of cashless society, there would be prevalent use of credit cards to perform transactions on ATM, POS and internet banking, and these transactions would have to pass thought the public infrastructure which are prone to cyber threats as being experienced in developed economy of the world.
 
"Case of debit and credit cards cloning are other vulnerable areas that need urgent attention for the country to reap the benefits of cashless society," he said.
 
Source: ThisDayLive

No comments:

Post a Comment