A bank card is typically a
plastic card issued by a
bank
A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets.
Because ...
to its clients that performs one or more of a number of services that relate to giving the client access to
bank account
A bank account is a financial account maintained by a bank or other financial institution in which the financial transactions between the bank and a customer are recorded. Each financial institution sets the terms and conditions for each type of ...
.
Physically, a bank card will usually have the client's name, the issuer's name, and a unique card number printed on it. It will have a
magnetic strip
The term digital card can refer to a physical item, such as a memory card on a camera, or, increasingly since 2017, to the digital content hosted
as a virtual card or cloud card, as a digital virtual representation of a physical card. They share ...
on the back enabling various machines to read and access information.
Depending on the issuing bank and the preferences of the client, this may allow the card to be used as an
ATM card
An ATM card is a payment card or dedicated payment card issued by a financial institution (i.e. a bank) which enables a customer to access their financial accounts via its and others' automated teller machines (ATMs) and to make approved point of ...
, enabling transactions at automated teller machines; as
debit card, linked to the client's bank account and able to be used for making purchases at the
point of sale.
The first bank cards were ATM cards issued by
Barclays in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, in 1967, and by
Chemical Bank in
Long Island,
New York, in 1969. In 1972,
Lloyds Bank
Lloyds Bank plc is a British retail and commercial bank with branches across England and Wales. It has traditionally been considered one of the " Big Four" clearing banks. Lloyds Bank is the largest retail bank in Britain, and has an exte ...
issued the first bank card to feature a
personal identification number (PIN) for security along with the information-encoding magnetic strip.
Historically, bank cards have also served the purpose of a
cheque guarantee card, a now almost defunct system to guarantee cheques at points of sale.
See also
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ATM card
An ATM card is a payment card or dedicated payment card issued by a financial institution (i.e. a bank) which enables a customer to access their financial accounts via its and others' automated teller machines (ATMs) and to make approved point of ...
*
Debit card
*
Credit card
A credit card is a payment card issued to users (cardholders) to enable the cardholder to pay a merchant for goods and services based on the cardholder's accrued debt (i.e., promise to the card issuer to pay them for the amounts plus the o ...
*
Charge card, payment card with balance paid in full by a due date
*
Payment card
Payment cards are part of a payment system issued by financial institutions, such as a bank, to a customer that enables its owner (the cardholder) to access the funds in the customer's designated bank accounts, or through a credit account and ...
References
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Banking terms