BANGKOK, Sept 18 (TNA) — The Bank of Thailand (BoT) urges users of magnetic ATM cards to replace them with chip cards because their old cards will be unusable after Jan 15 next year.
BoT assistant governor Siritida Panomwon Na Ayudhya said the central bank and financial institutions were replacing magnetic cards with chip cards to prevent the theft of data from ATM cards and card forgery. They intended to complete the replacement within this year.
About 47 million cards were changed to chip cards and about 20 million magnetic cards remained in use nationwide, she said. Of the valid magnetic cards, 30% were registered in Bangkok and the rest 70% in other provinces, Miss Siritida said.
She urged magnetic card users to seek chip card replacements free of charge at their banks, saying that after Jan 15 next year, they could not use magnetic cards. (TNA)