EMV migration timeline rolled out to Vietnam banks

The government of Vietnam has issued new regulations regarding that country’s migration from magnetic stripe cards to more secure EMV-compliant chip cards that meet specifications set out by Visa, Mastercard, JCB and UnionPay.

 

According to a report by Vietnam News, the regulations stipulate that banks must achieve a ratio of 60 percent chip cards by the end of 2019, with 100 percent of issued cards EMV-compliant by the end of 2020.

 

Additionally, at least 35 percent of commercial banks’ ATMs and 50 percent of their POS devices must be EMV-compliant by year-end, with 100 percent compliance attained by the end of 2020, the report said.

 

State Bank of Vietnam estimates that, as of September, the country had 18,170 ATMs and 294,500 POS machines, as well as an issued base of more than 85 million ATM cards.

 

Many existing devices will have to be upgraded or replaced to meet the government mandate, the report said. Card replacement alone is expected to cost between $100 million and $175 million.

 

Other news