ATM Card

[stockbroker]

An ATM card (also known as a bank card, client card, key card or cash card) is a card issued by a bank, credit union or building society that can be used at an ATM for deposits, withdrawals, account information, and other types of transactions, often through interbank networks.
Some ATM cards can also be used:

• at a branch, as identification for in-person transactions
• at merchants, for EFTPOS (point of sale) purchases

ATM cards are typically about 86 × 54 mm, i.e. ISO/IEC 7810 ID-1 size.
Unlike a debit card, in-store purchases or refunds with an ATM card can generally be made in person only, as they require authentication through a personal identification number or PIN. In other words, ATM cards cannot be used at merchants that only accept credit cards.

[stockbroker]

However, other types of transactions through telephone or online banking may be performed with an ATM card without in-person authentication. This includes account balance inquiries, electronic bill payments or in some cases, online purchases (see Interac Online).


In some countries, the two functions of ATM cards and debit cards are combined into a single card called a debit card or also commonly called a bank card. These are able to perform banking tasks at ATMs and also make point-of-sale transactions, both functions using a PIN. Canada's Interac and Europe's Maestro are examples of networks that link bank accounts with point-of-sale equipment.


Due to increased card fraud with magnetic stripe cloning, the European Payments Council established a Card Fraud Prevention Task Force in 2003 that spawned a commitment to migrate all ATMs and POS applications to use a chip-and-pin solution until the end of 2010. The "SEPA for Cards" has completely removed the magnetic stripe requirement from the former Maestro debit cards, and the savings banks have announced that they will ship their debit cards without a magnetic stripe beginning in 2012.

Quoted