WITH the emergence of a new breed of digital pickpockets lurking in e-commerce and technological environments, the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) will optimise their resources by introducing chip debit cards later this year. This was revealed Wednesday by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at GBTI, John Tracey, during a Merchant Operating and Risk Management Seminar at the Pegasus Savannah Suite.
Describing the piece of technology to the high-profile merchants attending the seminar, Tracey disclosed that it is the latest development in technological advancement. “It improves upon the magnetic stripe card,” the CEO said, adding that the hallmark of this product is the embedded chip which makes the card more secure.

‘DIGITAL SKIMMING’
Standing just six inches (15cm) away, hackers use radio-frequency identification (RFID) readers to harvest bank details in a practice known as ‘digital skimming’. In combating this, however, the

chip card will be almost impossible to counterfeit, due to its complex features.
An intentional delay, however, will result in the intended introduction of the GBTI debit card bearing the chip, instead of the more vulnerable magnetic stripe card. The debit card which was expected to be implemented before the first half of this year was rescheduled to facilitate the introduction of the chip card.
Noting that in some parts of the world, the magnetic strip card is prevented from being used, the CEO explained that both Visa and Master Card have implemented a no-liability policy which translates to all liabilities falling back on the card issuer (in this case GBTI), in the event of fraud.
But in order to minimise the liability that could be incurred from this, GBTI opted to hold back issuing their debit card until the introduction of the chip card.
“Later this year, we’re hoping to launch our chip debit card which is of course a Visa branded card because of the networking that we have,” Tracey said, adding that “it will be a card that we can use abroad as well as in Guyana which will be very secure.”
Weighing in on the introduction of the chip card by GBTI was Fraud and Compliance Analyst of the Caribbean Credit Card Corporation, Janiere Frank, who highlighted that one of the positive factors which most likely contributes to Guyana not having any major cases of fraud, is the compliance and adherence to required procedures and practices by merchants.
However, she noted that there have been cases of dispute during the ordinary transaction process but these would have been resolved.
“What we want is to ensure that the environment is secure so that it doesn’t happen… That’s why we are continuing the merchant’s education and provide them with guidance in terms of how the transaction process should be completed and also about the security measures they need to have in place,” the Fraud and Compliance Analyst said.
As a result, merchant education remains a top priority by trying to encourage the development of systems to alleviate those cases of frauds.
In this regard, GBTI also echoed similar sentiments, stressing that merchants in Guyana should be aware of the possible areas of vulnerabilities, even if they are not occurring in Guyana.
“They should be aware, even if these frauds are not happening in Guyana, they should always be ahead and understand what is happening out there and what will eventually come to Guyana. I think it would also help them to understand the methods by which they can courteously do these things even when they have suspicions of people,” Tracey concluded.
The seminar facilitated by GBTI touched on several key points for merchants, including card acceptance and best practices and dispute resolution.