"EMV cards is said to be more secured compared to the magnetic strips that are widely used in ATM cards and some credit cards. ATM card scheming and card fraud has long been a problem for banks and cardholders. To get rid of it, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas , in 2013, has issued a directive to the banks in the Philippines to replace the magnetic strips on the ATM and credit cards they are issuing with EMV (Europay, Mastercard, Visa) chips, which is  according to the Head of BSP Core IT Specialist Group, Melchor Plabasan. According to Mr. Plabasan, the EMV chip embedded in the card is more secured and is, according to him, virtually impossible to be copied or scheme. ""Every time the chip is used in the (ATM) terminal, it automatically sends a dynamic code,"" Plabasan added. As of this report, the banks are in a huge backlog about the BSP deadline. Out of 8.5 million credit cards and 76 million ATM debit and prepaid cards that has to be replaced, they only made replacement on roughly 50%  of it. BSP said that the public can still use the old cards with magnetic strips and there is no need to panic about the January 1, 2017 deadline. However, most of the ATM machines or terminals are already been upgraded to accommodate cards bearing EMV chips in it and no longer accept cards with magnetic strips.   The BSP has issued a warning to the banks who are still not being able to replace the cards with EMV embedded cards, should any fraud or scheming arise and there had been an unauthorized transaction, the bank will be held accountable and pay the lost or damages if the client submits a proper report.    Meanwhile, the BSP is reminding all old notes holder that the  old bank notes has already been demonetized since Dec. 31, 2016. But the OFWs who are not in the country can still be exchanged until 2017 but they need to be  registered online.  Read the details here:    Some hearsay about demonetization and the new bank notes. They are absolutely false! These hearsay has been falsified by  BSP Regional Director Leonides Sumbi.                   Only the new design series paper bills issued since 1985 until 2010 will not be accepted by January 1, 2017.  As long as the paper bill is a new generation cureency series, the one that was released since December 2010, the signature of the previous or current President should not matter.   Although BSP has ordered banks to replace ATM cards with EMV chip, this doesn't mean that ATM cards with magnetic strip will not be accepted anymore starting January 1, 2017 although some ATM terminals might not accept it."
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