Objective/Purpose:
To ensure that the personal information of the Debit/Credit card holder printed on the transaction slip after executing a transaction should not get misused for fraudulent activity.


Background / Importance:
In Pakistan, the medium of acceptance for Debit and Credit cards is usually either ATM machines or the Point of Sale (POS) terminals deployed at various merchant locations across the country. Whenever a transaction through Debit/Credit Card is executed at any merchant location, the POS terminal (a hand size machine used to swipe the cards) generates a slip which shows the card holder personal information such as Name, 16-digit Card Number, Date of Expiry etc which can easily be used for fraudulent purposes.


Transforming POS Machines:
In order to effectively address this issue and encourage the use of plastic money in Pakistan, Payment Systems Department at State Bank of Pakistan through various Commercial Banks has transformed all the POS machines across the country. From July 1, 2008 onwards, all POS machines have started printing encrypted transaction slips, hiding the critical personal information of the card holder. This step will prevent the misuse of the credit/debit cards in Pakistan.