Housing Finance Company (HFC) #ticker:HFCK, the mortgage lending and banking subsidiary of HF Group, has partnered with payment solutions firm MasterCard to issue debit cards as part of the bank’s strategy to grow its retail banking market share.
HFC customers will now be able to access over 36.9 million point-of-sale (POS) terminals in over 210 countries and territories.
“The launch of the Mastercard will ensure that our customers have access to safe, convenient and seamless transactions in Kenya and around the world,” HFC managing director Sam Waweru said yesterday.
The cards have seen HFC comply with new security standards developed by Europay, MasterCard, and Visa (EMV) including use of chip and PINs.
The Mastercard debit card will be directly linked to both HFC’s current and savings accounts.
In April 2013 banks decided to abandon magnetic cards, which were prone to fraudulent transactions in favour of EMV cards.
The lenders switched over in three phases – ATMs, POS and cards.
Mr Waweru said they are now leveraging on the new banking system they implemented last year to roll out additional retail and corporate products.
