UK bank Alliance & Leicester is set to issue 3.5 million smart cards to its cardholders in readiness for the national switch to chip and PIN technology at the point of sale.
The bank issued 5500 chip-based payment cards as part of the trial of the new technology in Northampton.
Alliance & Leicester says over the next two-and-a-half, 122 million cards, 850,000 point-of-sale terminals and 40,000 cash machines will be upgraded or replaced in the UK, including its own network of 2500 cash machines.