card with a computer chip and a magnetic stripe.
In addition to a 9.9% interest rate and 2% cash back on purchases, the card doubles as a smart card that will one day be useful for electronic commerce, according to Egg, a year-old division of Prudential-Banking PLC.
Schlumberger Smart Cards and Terminals of Montrouge, France, is supplying the smart cards and working with Egg to create uses for them.
The Egg card bears a resemblance to the American Express Co. Blue card in the United States. Unlike the Blue card, the Egg card is issued by a virtual bank in the United Kingdom, where a smart card standard has been adopted nationally.