It has been nearly a year since State Bank of India (SBI) first informed its customers that they need to replace their ATM-cum-debit cards with magnetic stripes with the ones with EMV chips. As the deadline approaches, SBI has issued a reminder again saying that 31 December is the last date for customers to apply for a free-of-cost replacement of their “Magstripe” or magnetic stripe card to avail a new EMV (Europay, Mastercard, and Visa) chip and PIN-based card.
After December 31, all Magstripecards being used by SBI customers who failed to apply for a replacement will be deactivated by the bank irrespective of the validity period of the card.
“Apply now to change your Magnetic Stripe Debit Cards to the more secure EMV Chip and PIN based SBI Debit card at your home branch by 31st December, 2019. Safeguard yourself with guaranteed authenticity, greater security for online payments and added security against fraud,” SBI posted on its official Twitter handle last week.
For those unaware, chip-based cards, also called chip-and-PIN cards, use higher standards of data encryption and storage technology compared with magnetic stripe cards.They are much safer as the EMV chip and PIN protect against any skimming activities.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had earlier instructed all commercial banks to switch from magnetic stripe cards to EMV chip-and-PIN cards. This is applicable to domestic as well as international debit and credit cards.
SBI customers can apply for a replacement for EMV chip debit cards either by visiting the home branch or online as well. For internet banking, log in to www.onlinesbi.com using user id and password and, under the “eServices” tab, click on “ATM card services” and follow the instructions.
SBI says that customers can identify whether their debit card has an EMV chip if there is a chip located on the face of the debit card(at the centre or left position).
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