Burgan Bank introduces EMV debit and credit cards

- First bank in Kuwait to be fully EMV compliant -

Kuwait City, 28 January 2008: Continuing its tradition of technological innovation, Burgan Bank has successfully maintained EMV compliance for issuing and acquiring Debit and Credit cards for Visa (both debit and credit) and MasterCard (credit only) using internal systems.

Having emerged as the first and only bank in Kuwait to be fully EMV compliant, the Bank has upgraded its KNET, ATM and POS interfaces to support all aspects of chip card issuance and acquiring chip based transactions at its ATMs on behalf of other banks.

Burgan Bank chip cards have been rigorously tested by Visa International and MasterCard for use world wide and work equally well in magnetic stripe ATMs and POS as well as the much more modern chip enabled terminals. The cards have also been tested by KNET and have been proven successful on GCCNET terminals.

The greatest benefit that the EMV chip enabled cards and customer terminals offer Burgan Bank's customers is heightened security, explains Simon L Clements, Senior General Manager, Operations Group, Burgan Bank. "EMV chip cards offer higher levels of security to our branches, our cardholders and merchants. This is especially important given the recent increases in payment card fraud and, in particular, the rapid growth of counterfeit fraud. We are delighted to offer this technology to our customers," he added.

A chip card incorporates an integrated circuit or microchip. When the chip card is inserted into a terminal, it carries out a series of pre-programmed commands, making the chip cards virtually impossible to counterfeit. And, if a card is lost or stolen, the bank can lock the chip. This significantly reduces the risk of fraud, especially when cards are used in conjunction with a PIN numbers.

All EMV chip cards carry a magnetic stripe, so even those locations which are not capable of accepting chip-based transactions cardholders can continue to use their EMV card. Further, Burgan Banks chip cards can deliver a range of different payment and banking applications - each of which can be tailored to suit the needs of an individual customer.

Although EMV cards have been introduced in Kuwait before by other financial institutions, Burgan Bank holds the distinction of being the only bank that can support its customers with Kuwait based systems and processes certified by Visa International and MasterCard.

-Ends-

For further information, kindly contact:
Leslie Mouawad
Memac Ogilvy Public Relations Kuwait
Tel: 4610371
Email: leslie.mouawad@ogilvy.com