Over the past couple of months, we’ve worked with our community to explore what you most want to see on Debut’s upcoming bank cards. We’ve also done our own research and looked around the world to learn what’s happening in this space, and we’re delighted by what we’ve discovered.
In this fast-paced digital era, bank cards have evolved beyond their traditional role of carrying money and have become innovative marvels. They now incorporate advanced technology and cater to diverse requirements, transforming their significance. Discover five amazing characteristics of bank cards from across the globe that highlight the fusion of creativity and functionality.
QR Code for Payments
QR codes are not new, they’ve been in use overseas, like in Japan, since at least the 90’s. Though it wasn’t really until after COVID, that they became mainstream in New Zealand.
Some banks are printing QR codes onto bank cards that link to a personal payment portal. Let’s say you’re popping out of the office for a delicious croissant, and your workmate asks if you could get them one too. No problemo, you say. When you return with deux croissants, you just flash your QR code at workmate, they scan the code with their phone, choose how much they want to pay you, and it’s done.
Mizuho Bank in Japan introduced this QR payment feature in 2019. More recently, Venmo - a peer-to-peer payment platform - has used it to connect directly to users’ pay portals too. Pretty neat.
Empowering and Inclusive Accessibility Features
Imagine you need to use your phone, but it is in a drawer with a bunch of other phones that look the same. How would you know which one is which? When it comes to bank cards, confusion is only part of the problem for people with partial vision or blindness. It can be frustrating and stressful to distinguish between different payment cards, insurance cards, loyalty cards, IDs and memberships when you’re standing at the checkout with people queuing behind you. Yikes!
Fortunately, there are some things banks and financial businesses are doing to make it a little easier to distinguish between different cards. Bank cards have had raised lettering for a long time, but try closing your eyes and running your finger over a card with embossed lettering, and you’ll quickly find that it’s not that easy to read, though it does help the letters to stand out if you are partially sighted. In 2017, The Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest in the UK introduced bank cards with tactile markings to help identify the card in the wallet and to indicate which way to insert the card into a card reader or ATM. Since then, the International Standards Organization (ISO) has established standards for creating consistency among card designs with tactile marking features. Today, Mastercard offers different shaped notches and even textures on top of cards to help them feel different when handling them. Cards also include Braille markers to help identify the cards.
When it comes to progress, there’s always more to do. Including these kinds of adaptations to make cards more user-friendly for people with low vision or blindness is a small but meaningful feature.
In our Community Card Ideas Competition, the most requested feature was the addition of tactile markings and Braille.
Advanced Printing Techniques
A friend who taught graphic design once told me that printing was one of the dark arts. Some of the effects made possible with printing technologies are basically magic. Both old and new techniques allow bank cards to integrate metallic finishes or holographic elements to create captivating designs at the intersection of innovation and aesthetics.
Recently, Kookmin Bank in South Korea launched their Infinite Card, featuring a classy holographic floral pattern. This treatment creates a mesmerising iridescent shimmer and is a great way to catch the light. Plus, new layering and printing methods allow for real-world colours as bright as what we can see on our screens, like UK-based Monzo’s Neon line, introduced in 2022.
Augmented Reality
Maybe you’ve had a go playing Beat Sabre on the Oculus Rift, or you’ve heard about Apple’s upcoming Vision Pro headset, but banks have been experimenting with mixed reality for a while. Avoiding motion sickness, around 2014, we saw some interesting experiments showcasing how a customer could potentially use their phone camera to bring up interactive 3D dashboards just by pointing their phone at their card. It was neat but did not really take off. Mostly, it was just easier to use the app.
In 2020, Mastercard announced an app to explore special card benefits through 3D portals. You could navigate the space by moving your phone around you and look around immersive environments representing special reward benefits, like a relaxing spa scene or a beautiful home filled with designer wares.
It’s important to keep pushing the limits of what is possible and what we know. It’s okay for an idea to fail as long as you learn from it. Some of the AR and VR applications did not hit the mark, but they might also have been ahead of their time. We’ll have to wait and see.
Superb Software
Sometimes, it’s not even about what the card looks like but what you do with it. The software behind a bank card can make it incredibly flexible and easy to use. Nowhere has this been more true than with mobile banking.Â
Added security is a great incentive for these extra user controls. For instance, it’s relatively commonplace now to be able to deactivate or reactivate a card in case it is lost or stolen. Some cards even allow you to set limits on how much you can spend or where, e.g. only in New Zealand. Some cards even allow users to get notifications every time there’s a transaction on their card to make sure it’s not being used without their knowledge. These types of features help to safeguard customers against fraud.
In the United States, the Apple Card, issued by Goldman Sachs, has no card number, expiration date or security code printed on the physical card. Instead, these details are stored inside the Wallet App. If a customer uses their card details to shop online and those details are somehow exposed, or if the card expires, users can simply request a new virtual card number and have it electronically updated on their Apple Card, meaning they never need to wait for a new card to arrive in the post. How convenient!
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As technologies and trends change, so does the financial landscape. Bank cards are more than just payment tools; they can also be a form of self-expression and help to bridge the gap between the real world and our expanding digital one. From QR codes, P2P payments, enhanced security, interactive AR experiences and bold and inclusive design, we’re reimagining what bank cards can offer here in New Zealand.
Debut is launching later this year, and we are leaving no stone unturned in our pursuit to build the best banking experience in Aotearoa. Share your thoughts on our community forum, Backstage.
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Please note, Debut is not a registered bank under the Banking (Prudential Supervision) Act. This is about our future intentions. Investments with us are not supervised currently by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
