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Digital journeysSeptember 12 2022

Numberless payment cards prove a mixed bag

Banks worldwide are increasingly launching cards without numbers. Do they offer enhanced security, or are they just a fad? Bill Lumley reports.
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Numberless payment cards prove a mixed bagImage: Getty Images

Numberless payment cards – those without the usual account-identifying digits printed across their face – are on the rise. This number erasure is purported by some to reduce the risk of fraud, but is seen by others merely as an attempt to appeal to bank customers’ aesthetic preferences.

Singapore’s latest digital bank, Trust Bank, was launched this month, and claims to be the first in the country to offer a numberless payment card. The new bank, a joint venture between Standard Chartered and the National Trade Union Congress of Singapore (NTUC), claims it is joining a steady stream of numberless card launches around the world in recent months.

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