On Wednesday, Walmart’s (WMT) Sam’s Club will announce a new credit card featuring EMV chip technology, making the card more secure against hackers.
Sam’s Club will become the first major U.S. retailer to adopt EMV chip technology in its credit cards. The smartcard contains a computer chip that makes it harder for hackers to copy it. Smartcard technology is already widely used in Europe, but has encountered resistance from American retailers. Card-swiping terminals at Walmart and Sam’s Club stores have had the capability to process smartcards for a number of years, the New York Times notes.
The new Sam’s Club MasterCard will launch on June 23. The card will be issued by GE Capital Retail Bank. The Sam’s Club MasterCard follows the massive credit and debit card data breach at Target (TGT) late last year. Sam’s Club indicated that its move to smartcard technology predated the TGT breach.
WMT stock rose slightly in Wednesday morning trading. On Tuesday, WMT stock closed at $76.71 per share.
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