The Central Bank has issued new directives on the treatment of capture of payment cards in Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) of the various financial institutions across the country.
According to the Bank of Ghana (BoG), the new directive which is pursuant to Section 92 of the Banks and Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions Act, 2016 (Act 930) seeks to address the perennial complaints that emanate from the capture of payment cards at ATMs of Regulated Financial Institutions (RFI).
The objectives of the directive the BoG notes are to;
- Provide for standard procedures in retrieving payment cards captured by Automated Teller Machines
- Prescribe conditions for releasing, transporting or destroying payment cards captured by Automated Teller Machines.
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Conditions for payment card capture on Automated Teller Machines the BoG asserts may be due to the following reasons;
(a) A wrong Personal Identification Number (PIN) is entered more than the permitted number of times by a customer during an Automated Teller Machine transaction;
(b) There is a technical issue including but not limited to power outage, network challenge and malfunction of the Automated Teller Machine;
(c) A Payment Card is forgotten in an Automated Teller Machine card reader after an Automated Teller Machine transaction;
(d) A session has been timed out during an Automated Teller Machine transaction;
(e) A Payment Card has been flagged as “Card Capture”, “Stolen Card”, “Lost Card” or any other status that has been parameterised by an issuer for which a Payment Card may be captured;
(f) An expired or damaged card is used on an Automated Teller Machine; and.
(g) A card that appears to be fraudulent including plain cards, cardboard cards etc.
Adding that, “All payment cards captured for reasons provided in Paragraph 6 (a) and (e) above and shown on the Issuer’s Host shall be blocked or disabled by the issuer. In the Case of Payment Cards captured for reasons provided in Paragraph 6 (g), an acquirer or issuer may report and release the Payment Card to law enforcement agencies.”
Read details of the BoG’s directive below:
Treatment of Captured Payment Cards in Automated Teller Machine Directive by Fuaad Dodoo on Scribd