Last week we reported that BancABC had partnered with MasterCard and ZIMSWITCH to issue co-branded cards. These cards come with both MasterCard and ZIMSWITCH logos. They can also be used to make payments locally and internationally without the need for you to have two cards. More importantly, these cards come with a chip instead of the usual Magistripe band on cards previously issued by BancABC.

This effectively means that BancABC is phasing out Magistripe cards and that’s good news for their customers. Chipped cards are more secure as they are harder to clone. We have seen a rise in the number of cloned cards in Zimbabwe during the past five years as people have been forced to rely on their bank cards more due to cash shortages. Scammers often find a way to clone your card and then go on to make unauthorised payments. Often the criminals get away with it due to lax point of sale security in Zimbabwe.

The cards are linked to two accounts

As already said these cards are linked to two accounts i.e your ZWL/RTGS account and your USD account. This means that when you make local payment money is taken out of your ZWL/RTGS account. When you make a USD/foreign payment money is taken out of your USD account. This is an automatic process which means that you can have one card for these two transactions that have traditionally required you to have two separate cards.