To deter illegal cash withdrawals using forged cards, major banks are moving to introduce cash cards imprinted with hard-to-copy integrated-circuit chips.

The IC-embedded cash cards will be available by the end of March at all four megabanks.

Although many ATMs won't be updated to accept IC cards for some time, banks are moving now to take what security measures they can to reassure customers and attract new ones.

Last month, the Japanese Bankers Association urged its members to hasten measures to curb the rise in stolen deposits using forged cards.

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. will begin issuing IC-equipped cash cards on Feb. 21 to depositors who request them, and Mizuho Bank will follow suit in March.

SMBC will charge a fee of 1,050 yen per card, while Mizuho's fee is undecided.

In October, the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi introduced smart cards incorporating biometric technology that confirms authentic cardholders by the pattern of their palm veins.

The high-tech cards cost depositors a hefty annual fee of 10,500 yen, but the bank plans to issue new cards in April free of charge.

The bank will still have a one-time issuance charge of 2,100 yen, but that fee will also be dropped for customers who opt for an additional credit card function.

UFJ Bank said it will issue cash cards equipped with a microchip at no extra charge to customers who sign up for the bank's new All One service accounts from March to June.

UFJ, which in May 2002 became the first Japanese megabank to issue IC-equipped cash cards, currently charges 2,100 yen to issue such cards.

That condition apparently dampened interest in the IC cards, with only 30,000 issued to date.

Conventional magnetic-strip cash cards can be easily forged by copying the coded data in the magnetic strip with one swipe of the card through a skimming device.

IC cash cards are harder to counterfeit because personal information is encrypted and then stored in the IC chip.

For now, customers will have to choose either the convenience and risk of magnetic strip cards or the costly but more secure IC cash cards.

ATMs at convenience stores cannot yet accept IC cards.

As a transitional measure until ATMs are upgraded, the IC cards from SMBC, Mizuho and UFJ will continue to include both an IC chip and a magnetic strip.

SMBC and Mizuho offer only one or two IC-compatible ATMs at each branch.

At UFJ, about half of the ATMs are IC-compatible, but the figure is expected to climb to 80 percent by the end of September.

The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi's biometric card cannot be used at ATMs that accept magnetic cards.

The bank plans to make half its ATMs IC-compatible by the end of June.(IHT/Asahi: February 12,2005)