New "Innovative Cards" Report

At a time when bank cards have become the preferred tool of consumers, card innovation has begun to play a major role. Apart from competition on card prices (annual cost for debit cards, interest rates and grace periods for credit cards), the battle is being carried out on other levels, such as loyalty, linked services, physical format or card visuals, and even technologies.

• Loyalty system: In the United States, with many issuers having followed Discover in offering cashback programs, while others offer systems of points or air miles, immediate gratification has today proved advantageous since many consumers already belong to several loyalty programs.

• Services linked to cards: Insurance and assistance have multiplied and can include offers bundled with the card itself (usual formula in France) or as options for the customer: travel insurance, health insurance, personal assistant services, etc. Naturally, mass-affluent cards (Gold, Premier) or prestigious ones (Centurion from Amex, Infinite from Visa, Platinum from MasterCard) include especially rich offers. Other services being proposed today are: insurance against identity theft, budget tools and concierge service. Cards targeted to a specific base of customers include special benefits, such as the German RV card and cards for women in Asia.

• Forms, material and original visuals: The form revolution began in 2002 with the creation of Mini Cards from Bank of America, SideCards from MasterCard, translucid or titanium cards from Amex, the Visa Light card, and original cards from Discover or La Caixa. The category also includes celebrity cards and affinity cards (sports, environmental, university or others).

• Technologies: With the diffusion of microprocessors, bank cards can serve as a vector for strong authentication with tokens and help fight phishing or carry value-added services to identify the consumer's purchase patterns at the point of sale (MODS system from MasterCard). Other trends: the virtual dynamic card, cross-border money transfers, television payments by bank card with BskyB. Also, contactless payment is expanding in the United States and Asia.

Publi-News is a Paris-based editor of trade publications, specializing in banking and marketing information for more than 20 years: 20 trade newsletters, magazines, directories and guides.