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Chip-based cards 'the future of cashless society'
8 Jul 2009

The cashless society of the future could be one of chip-based cards, rather than of magnetic stripes, it has been revealed.

American Banker reports the predictions of Gerard Hartsink, chair of the European Payments Council, at the recent Contactless Cards and Payments conference.

He said: "My feeling is, although it has not yet been decided, the [Council] will take a decision in 2011 - maybe 2010 - to only use chip cards."

Such a decision would likely follow the completion of the move towards support of the EMV standard for chip-based cards, the publication adds.

EMV, the current industry standard, is named after the three payment organisations - Europay, MasterCard and Visa - which collaborated on its creation.

A cashless society could operate smoothly with the use of contactless smart cards such as the sQuidcard for small-value transactions.

The prepaid contactless smart card can use electronic money to make small purchases in as little as three seconds.