Qatar Central Bank calls for ATM card shake-up

NEW TECHNOLOGY: Qatar has called for the implementation of chip and pin technology within a week. (Getty Images)

Central bank chiefs in Qatar has called on all banks in the Gulf state to replace ATM card with chip and pin technology within a week.

The Qatar Central Bank (QCB) has also told banks which have not so far switched over to the smart chip cards to stop transactions using the old cards.

The move comes as Qatar aims to give greater protection to customers from potential hackers.

It also comes a month after the UAE Central Bank announced a similar move. However, it gave no timeframe for the implementation of the new technology.

There are an estimated 1.2 million ATM cards in Qatar and all of them are required to be replaced by the new cards within the given deadline, The Peninsula reported on Tuesday, citing Arabic paper Al Sharq.

Some banks on Monday sent SMS messages to their customers telling them that ATM cards without chip and pin technology would only be accepted only in the ATMs of the respective banks.

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