The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) is issuing its customers with the country’s first ever Visa EMV payment card enabling both contactless and contact-based payment. The Chinese subsidiary of the German technology enterprise Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) has been selected to supply the cards to ICBC.
Cardholders can pay for purchases by either swiping the Visa payWave card across a contactless point-of-sales terminal or inserting it into the slot of a card reader. The dual interface cards are being issued in partnership with the Asian retail group Parkson in China, whose customers can also use them to collect loyalty points. ICBC and Parkson are planning to issue the Peony Parkson credit card to bank and retail customers this year.
The chip embedded in the card complies with the EMV standard. The issuance of the Peony Parkson card represents a step towards wide-scale migration of payment cards in China to the international standard for chip-based payment methods.
The existing Parkson loyalty program will be expanded, enabling customers to pay and collect points in supermarkets, fast-food restaurants, cinemas, parking lots and gas stations with the card. ![[end]](/resources/bullet/contactlessnews-4.gif)
