Doha - The International Bank of Qatar (IBQ) yesterday unveiled its novel, translucent, curved design and chip-enabled MasterCard unembossed debit card, known as the MC2 at a ceremony held at the Four Seasons Hotel Doha.
The latest of IBQ's innovative financial retail products; the stylish MC2 IBQ Card is the first such debit card in Qatar and the Middle East & Levant region.
The new cards will be handed to IBQ customers within the next two weeks on a phased basis, but they will be able to use both of their cards for some time to ultimately replace the existing cards with a new more secure one that offers more flexibility.
Speaking at a news conference here, IBQ General Manager Michael H Williams said the EMV (Europay, MasterCard & Visa) compliant card contains a micro-chip which can be used together with a pin-number to offer enhanced security against fraud when making a financial transaction,
EMV chip enabled cards use encryption algorithms that provide authentication of the card at the processing terminal with instant authorisation from the transaction processing centre.
The chip in the MC2 IBQ MasterCard Debit Card gives cardholders the additional benefit of having other enhancements on the card. The introduction of applications, such as ID and loyalty programs, can be added to the new MC2 IBQ MasterCard Debit Card which will develop into a multi-purpose card offering IBQ's customers a wider variety of financial options in a secure and stylish manner.
"The chip technology imbedded in the card has a lot of memory space in the card for banks to expand data used for such applications as loyalty programs or used for securing e-commerce transactions. These are all technologies available by using the chip card and most of the banks are seeking to introduce those technologies," said Eyad Al Kourdi, Vice President, Member Relations for Middle East and Levant, MasterCard International.
"We are proud to be collaborating with Qatar Central Bank (QCB), MasterCard International and Network International in introducing Qatar's and the Region's first translucent MC MasterCard Debit Card under IBQ's name and through this we will help place Qatari banking in a leading position throughout the whole Middle East and North Africa region," said Williams.
© The Peninsula 2006
