The implementation of chips on debit cards may be pushed back from its originally scheduled deadline of Jan. 1, 2016, as banks are still being burdened with several problems.



Bank Central Asia (BCA) retail and commercial director Suwignyo Budiman said it might be difficult for banks to completely replace all of their customers' debit cards with new ones embedded with chips before the regulator's deadline expires.



'At BCA, we have around 12 million debit cards circulating. We have purchased 4 million new cards, more or less, but may need longer time to completely replace all of them. So we have suggested to the regulator that the deadline for completion be extended,' he said in a telephone interview on Wednesday.



Suwignyo conveyed the suggestion during a meeting held by Bank Indonesia (BI) on Monday. Representatives of the Association of Payment Systems in Indonesia (ASPI) and other banks attended the meeting as well.



BI, as the authority that oversees payment systems, earlier requested all debit card issuers to put a chip into each debit card to step up security measures by Jan. 1.



Such a policy requires the issuers to withdraw existing cards and replace them with new ones.



Data from the central bank show that as of November 2014, there were 97.2 million debit cards, issued by 59 banks, circulating around the country.



With 12 million cards, BCA is currently listed as one of the banks with the largest customer base.



Besides the problem of card replacement, Suwignyo said that software issues had also become a challenge in the field because all automated teller machines (ATMs) and electronic data capture (EDC) units must be upgraded to enable them to process the new cards.



'It's an ongoing process. Hopefully we can finish it before year-end,' he said.



Bank Mandiri, another lender with a large number of customers, estimates that full distribution of the debit cards will take around three years to complete.



Mandiri president director Budi Gunadi Sadikin said that each of its branch offices would need to handle 100 to 150 customers wanting to get their cards replaced on a daily basis to be able to meet the current deadline.



'But our offices can only manage 50 customers per day, even if they are open during weekends,' he said, adding that the number of its debit cards now stood at about 13 million.



However, Budi said that the state lender's infrastructure, except the EDC units, was already in place and ready to process the new cards. 'For the EDC units, the whole industry still needs to settle an issue regarding interoperation standards,' he added.



Meanwhile, ASPI member Steve Marta said that the association had been requested by the central bank to bridge any problem that might exist between banks and other third parties.

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