Fifth Third Bank has annouonced the launch of a new commercial card format that contains an EMV-compliant chip, especially inteded for cardholders traveling outside the United States. The widespread adoption of the EMV standard in Canada and Europe has left many American cardholders unable to use their cards, especially where point-of-sale devices have been moderninzed to accomodate the new standard.
According to the bank:
This chip supports offline processing between the card and the terminal in a secure manner, and the cardholder is authenticated using a Personal Identification Number (PIN), which is stored in the chip. This process of authentication can help reduce the risk of counterfeit or stolen cards for commercial clients.
The new cards will work equally well within the U.S., as they also feature the same type of magnetic data stripe that has long been standard on issued cards here. Fifth Third’s initiative is not unprecedented; five or six other U.S. banks already have extended the same functionality to some or all of their corporate and executive cardholders. The strictly retail card market may still be dragging its heels in adopting EMV, but the commercial card segment is intent on avoiding inconvenience to its traveling clientele. The Nerd Wallet provides a review of comparable EMV card availability.
Click here to read more from a Fifth Third Bank press release.