News

U.S. Bank will rollout EMV chip cards to 20,000 cardholders this month

June 21, 2011

U.S. Bank is rolling out EMV chip cards to 20,000 FlexPerks Travel Rewards Visa cardholders this month, and to other Travel Rewards cardholders later in the year. The PIN-and-chip systems are already prevalent in Europe and elsewhere.

The FlexPerks cards will also contain technology for additional payment systems by offering an RFID chip and the standard magnetic strip.

"U.S. Bank is pleased to be the first issuer in the United States to provide dual-interface EMV cards that can be conveniently used anywhere — whether it be a chip-card reader with a merchant overseas, or a contactless payment terminal or magstripe reader here in the United States," said Cliff Cook, chief marketing officer for U.S. Bank Retail Payment Solutions. "While we believe EMV is important for our international travel cardholders, we are committed to driving contactless mobile payments in the United States."

The dual-interface smart cards are manufactured and personalized in the U.S. by Oberthur Technologies.

“While EMV is widely accepted internationally, it is still very new to the United States, but U.S. Bank understands the need for its customers to be able to access funds while traveling,” said Martin Ferenczi, managing director for the Americas region for the card systems division at Oberthur Technologies.