Bloomberg has two articles today about the "race" between JPMorgan and Wells Fargo to see who can release microchip bank cards first. The only problem is that it's not much of a race since these cards have been standard in France for a few decades and standard around the world for years (and it's the reason an increasing number of American credit cards no longer work in Europe). Adding the chip costs a bit more money for the banks and they're definitely more secure than the old fashioned magnetic strip which is easy to read. Ultimately it's a good thing for consumers but to call this a race is not very accurate. It's as laughable as US Internet providers pretending to offer state of the art service when it is lagging years behind the rest of the world.
It would be nice if politicians didn't accept such laziness by American business, and asked them to actually compete in a global market. Consumers deserve much more.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), the second- biggest U.S. bank by assets, said it plans to win the race against rival Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) to bring microchip-embedded credit cards to the wealthiest consumers.
“Absolutely, we would beat Wells Fargo to market,” David Porter, general manager for Chase Card Services, said in an interview yesterday, after Wells Fargo announced its plan to distribute chip cards later this year.
Both banks are courting U.S. clients who have encountered problems using their cards while traveling abroad. The EMV-chip technology, which is more secure than the magnetic-stripe that stores account data on U.S.-issued cards, has become a standard in Europe and much of the rest of the world. The chip cards may boost transaction revenue and help JPMorgan lure affluent customers from rivals such as American Express Co. (AXP), Porter said.
