IDEMIA has launched a new line of prestige payment cards, and already has found a client for the solution in Emirates Islamic, a bank based in the United Arab Emirates.
The new card offering is intended to capitalize on consumers’ interest in metallic payment cards. Dubbed “Smart Metal Art”, it supports contactless payments and, more importantly, is meant for highly aesthetic card designs.
As IDEMIA explained in a statement announcing Smart Metal Art, the card solution “enables a large variety of graphic printing capabilities that can be combined with exposed metal features and extended tactile technology for ground-breaking visual effects.”
For its part, Emirates Islamic is seizing on the solution to issue a new cart commemorating United Arab Emirates’ 49th National Day. The new ‘Emirates Islamic Emarati Credit Card’ prominently features the UAE’s official ‘Seven Lines’ logo.
IDEMIA’s announcement arrives on the heels of the company’s news that it would also provide metal cards for Banco de Brasilia. In that case, too, the metal cards were being marketed as a token of prestige, with the BRB Dux Visa Card aimed at higher-income customers.
In this latest case, IDEMIA emphasized the potential to reach the millennials market with its Smart Metal Art offering, citing survey data indicating that 73 percent of millennials prefer metal cards to plastic ones.
The company has also been actively pursuing emerging opportunities in the area of biometric payment cards, which are expected to reach a large-scale commercialization phase this year.
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