XAPIT introduces Verified by VISA (VbV) service on their debit cards

Zambia National Commercial Bank (ZANACO), has introduced a ‘Verified by Visa’ service on their XAPIT debit cards. This is an exciting new feature as it will make payments more secure and increase the number of places where the already popular card is accepted, from online banking to local and international online shopping as well as money transfer.

The card is widely accepted where Visa cards are accepted, what is new is now the liability of the payment will shift away from the cardholder, as Visa would have verified via their own channels that the payment is being carried out by the authorised cardholder.

Recently, we have seen FNB Zambia migrated to a chip and pin card from the old magnetic stripe cards  for additional security – this should lead to reduction in the scams were cards are copied and used to syphon money from ATMs. Though statistics are unavailable phishing scams are on the increase even locally. With the XAPIT  increased security, it is virtually impossible for those who send SMSes and/or emails asking the owner to change the card security  so that they use the information to steal hard-earned cash electronically.

With the availability of all these security features, an expansion in the online payments industry would lead to huge growth in the economy and the banking sector. However, most banks still channel their customers to counters and ATMs, resulting in limited mobile banking and telephone banking.