A campaign to raise public awareness about the benefits of debit and credit cards with embedded chips will be launched by DBS and POSB Bank next month.

The effort is aimed at encouraging the banks' 4.5 million cardholders to upgrade their magnetic stripe cards to chip cards if they have not already done so, the banks said on Thursday. About 40 per cent of their cards in issue are cards with magnetic stripes.

In an attempt to prevent card fraud, the banking industry is moving to replace magnetic stripe cards with those embedded with a chip, which are more secure. The exercise is expected to be completed by the end of next year.

DBS and POSB Bank want more cardholders to understand the benefits of using chip cards and make the move to replace their cards, the banks said.

From next month to December next year, POSB will give away $1.2 million worth of cash prizes to cardholders who upgrade to chip cards, through lucky draws held every two months.

Those who have upgraded earlier, from May this year, will also be eligible for the lucky draws.