Bank of Mongolia and Mastercard Announce Launch of Renewed M/Chip ₮-Cards

Two years after the M/Chip technology licensing agreement was signed, this launch brings Mastercard’s M/Chip security and privacy to Mongolia’s national payment ₮-Cards.

Bank of Mongolia (BoM), with the help of Mastercard, recently launched its M/Chip ₮-Cards in December 2021. Developed within the framework of the historical “M/Chip technology licensing agreement”, the ₮-Cards scheme, which integrates the ₮, the symbol of the tugrik – the national currency of Mongolia – has now been effectively enabled by Mastercard M/Chip technology to better play its vital role as the main payment instrument of the Mongolian national economy.

Anar Enkhbold, Director of the Payment Systems Department of BoM, stated, “the M/Chip ₮-Cards are now available to customers through all eleven of our commercial banks, and card issuing fintech companies. The introduction of the M/Chip will better protect the security and privacy of the national payment ₮-Cards, and will eliminate the risks and safety issues that Mongolia has encountered with previous magnetic standards, allowing the ₮-Cards to continue their vital role as the main payment instruments for facilitating the entry of money into the country’s economy and banking sector.”

Ari Sarker, President, Asia Pacific, Mastercard, also praised the milestone, stating, “This is a giant leap forward that will greatly benefit Mongolian consumers as well as the business community. Mongolia has demonstrated remarkable resilience in confronting the pandemic, with sustainable and inclusive growth emerging as one of the country’s key priorities. To this end, Mastercard is proud to actively assist Mongolia’s national agenda, and effectively enable the Mongolian payment ecosystem through the deployment of the M/Chip EMV security standard.”

In Mongolia, there are around 2.6 million ₮-Cards in circulation that will be replaced by M/Chip, comprising 62% of the payment card market share. With the renewed M/Chip ₮-Cards, cardholders will be able to enjoy contactless functionality in addition to other advanced options such as transportation fee payments for parking and public transport. Looking to the immediate future, BoM is also working on implementing tokenization to facilitate and promote mobile payments in the country, as well as working through the approval process for standardized QR code payment messaging specifications that will help to benefit the payments ecosystem.

In 2019, BoM signed an “M/Chip technology licensing agreement” with Mastercard. As part of the agreement, BoM also announced Mastercard as its partner of choice for the implementation of its chip migration, with plans to adapt the Mastercard M/Chip standard for the EMV Migration of the national ₮-Cards scheme of Mongolia. The agreement - celebrated as the first time that Mastercard M/Chip was selected as a national EMV standard - marked a significant milestone for the whole of the Asia Pacific region on its journey towards becoming a cashless economy. With this launch, every major market in the Asia Pacific region has now adopted the EMV standard.

With the success of the recent launch, the groundwork has been laid for Mastercard to import the innovative technology that it is best known for – powering smart cities, accelerating financial inclusion and enabling digital identity – while also bringing in the contactless programs and initiatives seen in places like Sydney, New South Wales and Singapore, to the land of Mongolia.

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