EMV stands for Europay, Mastercard and Visa and is a global standard for cards equipped with computer chips and the technology used to authenticate chip-card transactions.
Over 90 percent of the Point of Sale (POS) machines available in the Zimbabwean market are already chip-capable.
Speaking on the sidelines of the ongoing Mastercard Connecting Tomorrow 2018 Forum in Barcelona, Spain, payments technology company, Zimswitch Technologies deputy general manager Zabron Chilakalaka, said in terms of an industrial roadmap, Zimswitch would be making a transition from January 1 2019.
He said this would be complemented by a liability shift wherein a card issuer who has issued magstripe and has not converted would assume the liability for fraudulent transactions.
This would also see acquirers having to enable their terminals to recognise chip, failing which the acquirer bears liability.
"One of the challenges found in our local market has been that of card cloning, especially emanating from the magstripe and here at the conference the issue of security is key. Looking at various layers of security and as a start Zimswitch has embarked on local chip and Personal Identification Number (PIN) solution to replace the magstripe. This has been driven by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)," said Mr Chilakalaka.
Mr Chilakalaka said over 90 percent of the Point of Sale (POS) machines available in the Zimbabwean market were already chip capable.
