AMCM: Local banks suspend issue of contactless credit cards

Contactless credit cards were found to have security loopholes by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) on Tuesday, with seven banks ordered to stop issuing them. The Monetary Authority of Macau said three banks in the territory have also issued such types of credit card but the banks have already suspended issuing them.
The Hong Kong authority said on Tuesday that the contactless credit cards issued by seven of eleven banks, which supports Near Field Communication (NFC) and allows cardholders to make transactions by waving or tapping a card reader, have security loopholes enabling the information of users, such as full name and other private information to be stolen.
In an e-mail replying to Business Daily’s enquiry, AMCM said the number of issued credit cards supporting the NFC function are ‘very limited’.
‘Currently, the three banks have suspended issuing such new cards for safety purposes, and are following up on the relevant security issue and are about to send reminders to all affected cardholders. Meanwhile, [the] Authority has been closely monitoring the situation and will take timely measures if necessary,’ the Authority wrote, without revealing the names of the three banks.
The Hong Kong authority announced yesterday that the seven banks found to have ‘problematic’ cards are the Bank of China (HK), Bank of Communication (Hong Kong Branch), China CITIC Bank International, Dah Sing Bank, DBS Bank (HK), OCBC Wing Hang Bank Limited and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China ( Asia ) Limited.
The world’s two leading credit card companies, VISA and MasterCard, both issues contactless cards like ‘payWave’ and ‘PayPass’, respectively.
The cards can only be used to settle payment of less than HK$1,000.
Business Daily has found that Tai Fung Bank and the subsidiary of Hong Kong’s Dah Sing Bank – BCM Bank, have both issued payWave cards with VISA, while OCBC Wing Hang Bank Limited (Macau) has issued PayPass cards with MasterCard, according to their official websites. In addition, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Macau) Limited has issued a contactless credit card via UnionPay.
K.L.