Demand for plastic cards with embedded chip technology is apparently growing in the US, as more banks recognise its value for their customers. This has been spurred by the millions of dollars that banks are forced to repay their clients as a result of fraud every year, leading them to take whatever steps necessary to improve security.
A June 10 article from the Associated Press suggests that as many as half of credit and debit cards in the US will have been replaced by the end of the year. The country is taking the lead from other countries – including Australia – that have had chip and PIN technology for some time.
A number of banks have already started to roll out more secure plastic cards among their customers. The Bank of America is one of them, telling its clients that “when purchases are made using the chip feature, the transaction is more secure because of a unique process that is used to determine if the card is authentic”.
JPMorgan Chase is another company keen on rolling out more secure card technology. It pledges to provide the cards to all customers in due course, with all debit, credit, prepaid and ATM cards due to be replaced over the coming months.
This growing emphasis on security could lead to a rise in personalised ID card printing, which also provides an extra level of safety during day-to-day transactions. Businesses in a wide range of sectors can benefit from printing their own cards, not least because they can rest assured they will only be distributed to the people who need them.
If big banks are investing in the technology, then it indicates that card security is of paramount importance – and something that other companies should be keen to investigate. Both regional and larger banks are following suit, showing that the market is growing all the time.
