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Published on November 1, 2007

The bank today will introduce mobile electronic data capture (EDC) at PTT petrol stations, with 1,000 mobile EDC devices being gradually installed at the oil retailer's stations across the country.

The higher-technology EDC will accept all credit-card brands used at PTT stations, and replace all Krungthai Card (KTC) EDC devices at the outlets.

Kattiya Indaravijaya, first senior vice president of KBank, said that by offering more security and greater convenience the bank's mobile EDC had been approved by PTT for use at its fuel stations. With increased credit-card fraud, the mobile EDC will give cardholders increased protection.

"When cardholders pay for fuel at PTT stations, the mobile EDC will be carried to the customer to proceed with the payment. Thus, the entire payment process will be seen by the customer," she said.

A source at KTC said the firm's 950 EDCs at PTT outlets across the country would be gradually removed from December 1. This is because the company's interchange fee has fallen from 1.5 per cent of the purchase amount to 0.8 per cent.

Kattiya said KBank was also considering revising the conditions for the K-M alert service on its credit-card business. When customers spend at least Bt2,500 on the bank's credit card they currently receive a message about that spending on their mobile phone. By giving more attention to the security system, the bank said it was possible to reduce the minimum spending amount to Bt1,000.

She added, however, that the bank's level of credit-card fraud was now insignificant because it has migrated from magnetic strip cards to chip cards. The bank has issued 1.6 million cards, of which 800,000 are chip cards. All will be changed to chip cards by the middle of

next year.

Somruedi Banchongduang

 The Nation