KARACHI, Aug 23: The State Bank of Pakistan has decided to protect credit, debit cards (plastic money) from growing frauds by coding their information, and these cards can now be used safely.

“Plastic money users now comfortably can use their debit or credit or smart cards anywhere in Pakistan irrespective of the amount of transaction without any fear of disclosing their personal information on transaction slips,” said a State Bank press release.

Previously, points of sale terminals used to generate transaction slips, visibly indicating the cardholders’ personal information, such as name, 16-digit card number, date of expiry, etc., which can easily be used for fraudulent purposes.

Misuse of debit or credit cards had opened new chapters of fraud and forgery, and in most of the cases, misuse of cardholders’ personal information had occupied a prominent place.

“In order to effectively address the issue, the payment systems department of the State Bank, in collaboration with commercial banks, initiated a primary account number (PAN) masking project.”

Under the project, all points of sale terminals have been reconfigured so that they should print only the encrypted transaction slips.

This exercise has successfully been completed and more than 54,000 terminals placed at various merchant locations, such as petrol pumps, shopping centres, etc., across the country were reconfigured for PAN masking.

This security feature would enhance confidence of consumers in Pakistan and eventually help promote e-banking culture.

This project was undertaken in the backdrop of rapid development in information and telecommunications technologies, coupled with low-cost technology delivery, that is enabling new payment system models which were not possible a decade ago.

The financial institutions around the world are now rapidly introducing new and innovative e-banking products and services.

There are 6.4 million cards in circulation, of which 24pc are credit cards while the rest are debit cards. Similarly, more than 3,200 ATMs and 54,000 point of sale (PoS) terminals are working seamlessly across Pakistan, thus providing banking facility to plastic money holders in Pakistan.

Such a huge infrastructure, supporting card-based transactions, indicates a huge potential for growth in e-banking business in Pakistan, said the SBP.

Commercial banks in Pakistan have developed various e-banking products to provide efficient and effective payment facility to their customers.

The State Bank plays a crucial role in proactively promoting a safe and secure e-banking culture in the country. The e-banking in Pakistan has recorded phenomenal growth over the years.