Butterfield introduces first chip and PIN cards to Cayman

| 19/02/2015 | 1 Comment

(CNS Business): Butterfield Bank has become the first high street bank in Cayman to introduce chip and PIN credit cards. Although the cards which have a higher level of security have been in use in common use in Europe and the US for over a decade, none of the local banks have issued them to customers before. The cards have an embedded, encrypted microchip that is nearly impossible to replicate, which enhances fraud and counterfeit protection. 

The first cards the bank is rolling out are for the Butterfield AAdvantage MasterCard Black, Platinum and Business Cards, and the Butterfield Visa Platinum and Gold Credit Cards. The bank said that it will be implemented for all their credit cards over the next 12 months.

To make purchases at merchants who are equipped with point-of-sale terminals that support Chip and PIN technology, cardholders insert their Cards at the register into the chip-enabled POS devices and then confirm the transaction amounts and provide authorisation by entering their Personal Identification Number or PIN on a keypad.

“With chip and PIN transactions, credit cards are never out of the possession or sight of cardholders, minimising the risk of card skimming,” bank officials stated.

Not many Cayman merchants have the equipment yet so the bank said its chip and PIN Cards will continue to be issued with magnetic strips so they can still be used for local purchases via traditional signature authorisation-based transactions.

“Chip and PIN technology is now becoming the industry norm for credit card transactions in most of the world,” said Peter Jackson, Senior Vice President, Group Head of Card Services. “Butterfield is very pleased to be the first bank in Cayman to provide this enhanced technology and protection to our customers.  When using the chip card together with a PIN, it is more secure than the magnetic stripe in that it uses cryptography to protect data when communicating with a card reader.

“Consequently chip and PIN cards used at chip-enabled terminals make the transactions even more secure by validating the card and the cardholder electronically.  The overall process is slightly different from what you may be accustomed to, but it’s very easy to use and provides the comfort of extremely secure transactions.”

He added that consumers should not worry that their magnetic stripe cards are not safe.

“They are,” he said. “Butterfield systems and personnel continue to monitor your transactions for potential fraud and verify suspicious transactions — but chip cards provide even more security.”

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Category: Finance, Local Business

Comments (1)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Great news. Well done Butterfield. I trust that local debit cards will eventually be included as well.

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