At the end of October, the use of chip bank cards in my country will say goodbye to "swipe" cards and turn to "insert" cards. Next year, the issuance of new magnetic stripe bank cards will be gradually stopped. Please pay attention - is the bank card in your wallet a magnetic stripe card or a chip card? Should I swipe the card or insert the card? These details that many people overlook are actually related to the safety of your funds.

Next year, my country will gradually stop issuing new magnetic stripe bank cards, and bank card core replacement is accelerating. However, the stock of UnionPay magnetic stripe standard cards in the country has reached 3.442 billion. Such a huge "core" replacement work is not necessary. Who pays the bill? How should we proceed?

Chip cards are more secure

Chip cards are more secure

Magnetic stripe cards have inherent disadvantages and are prone to copying and fraud.

In people's enjoyment While it is convenient to swipe a credit card, thefts that occur frequently around us threaten the safety of everyone's bank card funds.

Ms. Lu, a resident of Shaoxing, Zhejiang, paid a bill of 65 yuan by swiping her card at a supermarket on August 23 this year. Three days later, while she was still asleep, nearly 5,000 yuan was withdrawn from her card, and the card was in around. A month later, the case was solved. It turned out that the supermarket cashier copied the magnetic strip when she swiped her card and peeked at the password. More than 20 customers were affected, with some losing a few hundred yuan and some losing tens of thousands of yuan.

Due to the inherent weakness of magnetic track information being easily copied, counterfeit card theft has become the hardest hit area for bank card crimes. Public security agencies across the country crack down tens of thousands of bank card crime cases every year, and bank card crimes cause economic losses of hundreds of millions of yuan every year. Data from the China Banking Association shows that counterfeit cards have become the number one cause of credit card fraud. Among the financial crime cases reviewed and prosecuted by the Shanghai Procuratorate last year, credit card fraud accounted for nearly 90%.

Wang Yu, a senior risk expert at China UnionPay, said that magnetic track information can easily be collected by criminals through recorders and other methods to copy counterfeit cards, which could lead to incidents where the card is stolen but is swiped. Chip cards have key encryption technology and encrypted information is randomly generated. Currently, there has been no actual case in the world where chip bank cards have been copied, leading to counterfeit card fraud.

"Chip cards have obvious advantages over magnetic stripe cards in terms of security and multiple applications. It is recommended that cardholders replace them as soon as possible." The relevant person in charge of the central bank made it clear. According to the deployment of the People's Bank of China, POS machines across the country will close chip bank card downgrade transactions before the end of October, and chip card payments will say goodbye to swiping cards and usher in the era of card insertion. Starting next year, newly issued bank cards settled in RMB in economically developed areas should be chip cards, and the issuance of magnetic stripe cards will gradually be stopped.

The cost of replacing the "core" is tens of billions of yuan, who will pay the bill?

The era of chip bank cards is accelerating. Are you ready?

Data from the central bank show that the current transformation rates of POS and ATM terminals across the country to support chip cards have reached 99.6% and 99.5% respectively. Chip cards have become the mainstream of newly issued bank cards.

“The conditions for closing chip card downgrade transactions are currently in place and will not affect cardholders’ normal consumption.” Liu Jian, assistant general manager of the marketing department of China UnionPay, said.

The application environment for chip cards is basically ready, but there is no clear statement on the cost of replacing the "chip". The current cost of chip cards is 8 to 10 yuan each, which is 10 times that of magnetic stripe cards. Nearly 3.4 billion magnetic stripe cards will need to be replaced with chip cards, and the cost will be tens of billions of yuan.

Who should pay for the bank card replacement? Banks and consumers disagree.

The reporter learned from many bank business departments around Beijing Financial Street that replacing the "core" generally requires a cost ranging from 3 to 20 yuan. For example, ICBC only upgrades magnetic stripe cards to single-chip debit cards for customers with four stars and above for free. China Merchants Bank charges a 10-yuan cost for exchanging regular cards, but only gold cards and golden sunflower cards are free. Regarding the issue of "chip" replacement, banks are obviously more concerned about the increase in operating costs caused by system upgrades and chip production.

“If you want to charge money for changing chip cards, I will definitely not change them.” Zhang Junyi, an undergraduate at Chongqing University, said that changing cards is inherently troublesome, and there is even less incentive to charge.

Zhang Junyi’s attitude can represent the voice of most consumers.

Li Yue, a Beijing citizen, said, "Of course the bank should pay this money. Banks earn a lot of money from bank card customers every year. Card replacement should be part of serving customers."

"Security is the key to financial payment. The lifeline of transactions. Changing the 'core' is to plug loopholes and make it more secure, and the cost should be borne by the bank. "As a third party other than banks and consumers, Tang Bin, CEO of bank card acquirer Yibao Company, said. Be clear.

The huge stock of magnetic stripe cards has become a habit. Who should we rely on to promote the replacement of "cores"?

At the end of last month, Ms. Liu, a Beijing citizen, was confused after receiving a text message from her bank to close chip card magnetic stripe transactions: "Merchants swipe the magnetic stripe, can the chip be used?"

After nearly 30 years of development, the popularity of magnetic stripe bank cards has reached the point where the average person has two and a half cards, and "swiping the card" has become a habit. Nowadays, upgrading the "core" requires not only digesting the stock of nearly 3.4 billion magnetic stripe cards, but also changing long-standing habits. Who will be responsible for promoting these two arduous tasks?

“For the huge stock of magnetic stripe cards, natural elimination will be adopted, and commercial banks will be gradually guided to replace the magnetic stripe cards with chip cards, which will not affect the use of magnetic stripe cards.” Relevant person in charge of the central bank Make your stance clear.

Given the size of China and its uneven development, it is natural that China cannot be one-size-fits-all and rush for quick results. Although the general principle is to "adopt natural elimination", if the current plan of some banks is to wait until the customer's original magnetic stripe card expires before upgrading to a chip card, who will be responsible for the security of card swiping during the three to five years of the card's validity? Responsible?

As a card issuer, banks should take a more active attitude in promoting bank card "core" replacement. Professor Liu Junhai, director of the Institute of Commercial Law of Renmin University of China, believes that banks have sufficient human and material resources to remind consumers, but the current reminders and supervision for "core" replacement are insufficient, and the charging standards need further regulation by regulatory authorities.

Merchants are also obliged to change the "core" of their bank cards. Industry insiders pointed out that whether to swipe or insert a card is not mainly decided by consumers, but by merchants, especially cashiers. It is necessary to strengthen the training and restraint of cashiers and change the habit of swiping magnetic strips developed over the years.

Tang Bin suggested that banks can use more marketing methods such as rewards for card replacement and double points to encourage customers to upgrade their bank cards. Creating a more secure and convenient payment environment requires the concerted efforts of banks, acquirers, merchants and consumers.