Exton’s Oberthur Technologies Is Securing The Future Of Credit Cards

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VT Property

Behind the closed doors and multiple security checkpoints you’d more likely expect from the Pentagon than a brick factory building in Exton, an unceasing assembly line spits out cutting-edge credit cards as fast as it can while major credit companies crowd around, anxious to get their hands on the new-to-America computer chips that replace traditional magnetic strips on credit and debit cards.logo-oberthur

The frenzy is a result of the squeeze between an industry deadline and delays from both banks and merchants that have dragged their feet on switching over. Come October, banks will wash their hands of responsibility for credit card fraud and place the blame — and costly liability — on merchants who don’t accept the new chip cards, according to a new report in the Wall Street. Journal.

But it’s a boon for Oberthur Technologies, which is now churning out 20 million cards a month in a round-the-clock race to get the industry to 575 million chip cards by the end of the year. Oberthur had the foresight to move into the facility back in 1999, but it has grown jobs by 68 percent since just 2013.

Martin Ferenczi
Martin Ferenczi

“It took a very, very long time, and now it’s happening on an accelerated basis,” North American Operations President Martin Ferenczi said in the article.

The chips in the new cards have the capability to generate a unique code for each transaction rather than storing actual account numbers and expiration dates like cards with magnetic strips do.

“The large issuers are very sophisticated and have been working on this for years, but there are some people that are just scratching the surface,” CPI Card Group CEO Steve Montross said of some banks that are scrambling ahead of the October deadline.

Read much more about Oberthur and the credit industry’s predicament in the Wall Street Journal here.

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