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Passcode-generating payment cards have faced years of resistance by U.S. banks, but Gemalto NV bets that, by putting its own brand behind the technology, it can make a difference.
November 11 -
A fresh take on the interactive payment card may be the farthest the technology has come in the United States, but the cards' cost may prevent them from reaching beyond niche customer segments.
October 14 -
Issuers in Europe are rolling out payment cards featuring built-in display screens that offer improved security and can provide access to balance information — but there are major hurdles that make it unlikely any banks would offer the technology in the U.S. anytime soon.
June 4 -
Price reductions could spark demand for cards that display one-time passcodes. Companies such as Innovative Card Technologies Inc. hope the increasing use of online banking, combined with growing awareness of fraud, persuades more consumers to use the cards, which generate a new passcode every minute or so.
December 31
MasterCard Inc. has announced plans to bring passcode-generating display cards to U.S. consumers.
The Purchase, N.Y., company recently tested and launched the cards in Europe and Asia. They function and look like normal magnetic stripe cards, with the addition of a built-in display that generates a one-time passcode for improved security.
Card issuers may use the passcodes as a card-verification code to help identify counterfeit cards or as a complement to MasterCard SecureCode, an online authentication service.
Symantec Corp., of Mountain View, Calif., is providing the technology through its VeriSign Identify Protection Authentication Service, which enables merchants to offer secure transactions and online access to help combat fraud.
NagraID will develop and manufacture the cards, which have a display screen, 12 buttons and an embedded secured chip, Philippe Guillaud, the Los Angeles company's executive vice president and chief technology officer, said.
The use of dynamic data in payments and authentication has been growing, Gwenn Bezard, co-founder and research director at Aite Group LLC in Boston, said. "Most consumers log in to their online bank accounts with static information that rarely changes. And anything that is static has a level of vulnerability," he said.
The display card is one means to provide cardholders with more information for online authentication, especially when making purchases online or using an online bank account, he said.
