Wells Fargo Introduces New EMV Card for Consumers

Wells Fargo announced today a limited issuing of a new EMV chip-enabled credit card, dubbed by the bank the By Invitation Visa Signature card. The new cards are available to clients of Wells Fargo Advisors and The Private Bank and feature both magnetic stripe for use in the U.S. and EMV PIN-enabled technology for use abroad.

The addition of EMV technology will make it easier for the bank's clients to make credit card purchases and withdraw money from ATM's overseas, the bank said in a statement. Wells Fargo piloted EMV cards with 15,000 customers who travelled internationally last year. The new By Invitation Visa Signature card is the result of that pilot program.

"As we looked at our credit card portfolios, we identified groups which have the highest incidence of international travel," Eric Schindewolf, the vice president of product development for Wells Fargo Consumer Credit Card, said in the statement. "Doing so helps us take a deliberate and thoughtful approach to putting this card into production, while at the same time offering it to our clients who travel the most."

The new card includes security elements that make each transaction unique, offering offering an additional layer of security for both contactless and EMV transactions by making it more difficult to use stolen card data fraudulently, according to the bank. The cardholders will also be offered the bank's Zero Liability program to protect them from liability for unauthorized transactions.

The bank partnered with First Data, an electronic commerce and payment processing provider, to process the EMV transactions from the new cards.

[See Related: MasterCard Says U.S. EMV Adoption is Key to Next-Gen Payments ]

Jonathan Camhi has been an associate editor with Bank Systems & Technology since 2012. He previously worked as a freelance journalist in New York City covering politics, health and immigration, and has a master's degree from the City University of New York's Graduate School ... View Full Bio