Credit and Smart Cards Timeline

1920

• The Shopper's Plate is the first payment card issued in the USA.

1930

• Credit cards make greater emergence in the USA.

1950

• Diners Club and American Express are launched in the USA.

1951

• Diners Club card reaches 42,000 Americans and more than 330 businesses in the U.S.

1952

• Franklin National Bank of New York offers expanded lines of credit on bank credit card.

1959

• American Express issues its first plastic charge card.

1966

• First British credit card is issued by Barclay's Bank.

1974

• French reporter and inventor, Roland Moreno, develops first electronic payment card with stored-value application.
• Chips with stored data are housed on cards.
• Consumer Credit Act depicts all credit legislation and still governs the granting of consumer credit.

1975

• Honeywell Bull (HB) produces the chip cards now known as the CP8 Transac.

1977

• HB card houses 4Kb of memory.

1978

• Patents for smart cards increase.
• First card with memory is utilized for identification and transaction purposes.
• Honeywell Bull produces first electronic card with microcircuit employing tape technology.

1979

• USA's Motorola memory chip and microprocessor is employed in the operation and debut of the two-chip card.
• American Express previews HB's CP8 card.
• France gives the memory card its first interbank trial run.
• MasterCard is launched.

1980

• Experimental smart card programs are rolled out by three companies: Flonic, Schlumberger and Philips Data System.
• Bi-chip CP8 mircoprocessor card debuts in cardiac pacemaker user identity.
• Carte a memoire becomes the Smart Card as it is renamed by the French government's marketing organization.

1981

• France names three cities to roll-out smart card experimentation: Blois, Caen, Lyon.

1982

• Plans are drawn to begin using electronic card payments in payphones in France.
• First e-payment cards are issued to congressional delegates at a meeting in Monte Carlo.
• HB develops first mono-chip microcalculator card.

1983

• Smart cards are slated to be tested in health and social services sector.

1984

• Motorola and Eurotechnique (Thomson) manufacture CP8 technology chip cards for French banking industry.
• Memory card experiments commence in Norway.
• Italy launches smart card applications.

1985

• President of MasterCard International and MCTI (Bull CP8's American subsidiary) agree to experiment with payments involving memory cards in the U.S.

1986

• Total number of bank cards in use to date-250,000
• Visa and Bank of America publish results of study demonstrating greater security and cost-effectiveness with smart card transactions.
• Bank of Virginia and Maryland National Bank distribute 14,000 electronic payment smart cards to clients.

1987

• MasterCard evaluates the memory card to leverage benefits to public.
• Bank of America utilizes memory cards to promote card banking among employees.

1988

• Midland Bank debuts microprocessor card.

1989

• Thomas Cook Financial Services effects electronic traveler's check with a memory card.

1992

• U.S. Marine Corps., Kanoehe, Hawaii base, utilizes smart cards incorporating five to ten uses, including ID, meal vouchers and building access.

1997

• University of Michigan's total smart card issuance at 13,000 is increased by 100,000.

1998

• Smart card information storage increases continually. Until this point, 1Meg was typical. By the new millennium expectations for enhanced memory soar from 8K Byte cards to 64K.

1999

• American Express chip-embedded Blue card enables consumers to transfer credit card information securely via the Net.

2001

• Estimated smart card users total 157 million Americans, in an adult population of approximately 200 million.
• More than 500 million plastic cards are in use, worldwide.