CBA highlights security concerns over Square
(21 March 2016 – Australia) Square's Australian launch has been met with a trepid response amid security fears of the payments device.
The country’s largest lender, Commonwealth Bank (CBA) has only agreed to lift a security-related block on the mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) service after an intervention from credit card providers Visa and MasterCard.
When it launched earlier this month, the security of the Square card reader was brought into question. Although the device, designed for the US market, accepts chip cards it does not have an inbuilt PIN pad.
CBA has told a reporter at The Australian that it has only lifted a block on payments made through the reader on the request of card schemes, including Visa, which has a 10 percent stake in Square.
"We have temporarily lifted the block on the pin-on-mobile transaction for a limited period at the request of the card schemes and we will continue to protect our cardholders," a bank spokeswoman told the paper.
However, she added: "In the event our security concerns are not fully resolved by the card schemes we will reapply the block."
Australian Payments Clearing Association's has yet to approve the device, but Square has defended its security and Visa says it is working with banks to resolve any concerns.
Subscribe