European banks continue to lead the way on chip.

Banking Briefs – Business news

Bulbank said on April 6 it successfully ended the needed certification and can now process chip cards in the country’s network of ATMs. As of now, more than half of the total ATM network has been upgraded, mainly in the bigger cities and seaside resorts.

Daily, more than 100 chip card transactions are processed, and the number is expected to increase with the summer season, the bank said in a statement. Bulbank is one of the first European banks migrating successfully to the new messaging standard that MasterCard implemented last year – IPM (integrated product messages).

The standard was adopted after a decision of MasterCard to unify its operations in Europe and North America. The IPM standard is now a mandatory for bank as prerequisite to upgrade to chip-based cards.