The Green Sheet Online Edition
July 7, 2009 • 09:07:02
History of payments technology
1951 - The first credit card (Diner's Club) is rolled out.
1958 - Bank of America launches the BankAmericard in Fresno, Calif.
1959 - American Express Co. introduces plastic cards; previously cards were made of celluloid or cardboard.
1966 - Fourteen U.S. banks form the first bankcard processing association to exchange information on credit card transactions.
1967 - Four California banks form an association called Master Charge (which was renamed MasterCard in 1979) to compete with BankAmericard (which became Visa in 1977).
1968 - The automated chip card is invented in Germany.
1970 - The magnetic stripe becomes a feature on credit cards following the London Transit Authority's installation of a magnetic stripsystem in the London Underground in the 1960s.
1973 - IBM introduces computers that can control POS devices.
1974 - Smart cards are patented in France.
1976 - Debit cards are introduced in Europe.
1992 - Books.com, the first online bookstore, is created - two years before the beginning of Amazon.com - setting the stage for online commerce.
1992 - Microchips are embedded into all French debit cards, leading the way to the widespread adoption of smart cards.
1995 - Europay, MasterCard and Visa (EMV) co-develops industry-wide chip card specifications to ensure that all chip cards will operate with all chip-reading terminals.
1998 - Mobile payments are tested in Finland when two vending machines are enabled to work with short message service payments.
2003 - A chip and PIN card trial is completed in Northampton, England, and the technology is rolled out nationwide in the United Kingdom the following year.
2004 - The chip and PIN card is rolled out in Europe, where it's now universal.
2004 - Digital check scanning is introduced in the United States.
2007 - The PCI Security Standards Council adopts the Payment Application Data Security Standard based on Visa Inc.'s Payment Application Best Practices.
2008 - The PCI SSC sets a series of deadlines for payment card security technology compliance, including a Sept., 30, 2010, deadline for level 1 and level 2 merchants, who after that date cannot retain consumer card data, such as PINs.
2009 - The Secure POS Vendor Alliance is formed by payments industry executives to help foster the proper adoption and use of payment data security technology.
- Mobilizing for the next wave of U.S. payment innovation, by James McCauley
(Principal Consultant, Capco), Rahul Kapur (Managing Principal, Capco)
and Suresh Gupta (Partner, Capco)
- Wikipedia
- The New York Times
- the PCI Security Standards Council
- United Bank Card Inc.
- SC Magazine
- First Data Corp.
Whether you want to upgrade your POS offerings, find a payment gateway partner, bone up on fintech regs or PCI requirements, find an upcoming trade show, read about faster payments, or discover the latest innovations in merchant acquiring, The Green Sheet is the resource for you. Since 1983, we've helped empower and connect payments professionals, starting with the merchant level salespeople who bring tailored payment acceptance and digital commerce tools, along with a host of other business services to merchants across the globe. The Green Sheet Inc. is also a proud affiliate of Bankcard Life, a premier community that provides industry-leading training and resources for payment professionals.
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