Mastercard will no longer issue magnetic stripe cards until 2029

Mastercard has decided to remove magnetic strips from all of its credit and debit cards. This movement was driven by greater acceptance of chip cards and contactless payments.

The company aims to stop production of new cards with a magnetic stripe by 2029, and expects these resources to cease to exist under the Mastercard brand until 2033.

The exception to this change would be prepaid cards issued in the United States and Canada.

“The magnetic stripe will begin to disappear in 2024 on MasterCard payment cards in regions such as Europe, where chip cards are already widely used. Banks in the US are now required to issue chip cards with a magnetic stripe from 2027 will not happen”, the company said in a global statement on Tuesday (17).

Brazil is also one of the success stories for chip cards and proximity payments – accelerated by the acceleration of digitization with the advent of the pandemic.

According to Mastercard, about 45% of face-to-face transactions worldwide were done by approximation in the second quarter of this year.

“It is time to fully embrace these features, which ensure that consumers can make payments easily and quickly,” said Ajay Bhalla, president of cyber and intelligence businesses at Mastercard.

“What is best for consumers is best for everyone in the ecosystem.”

Currently, according to the company, chips are used in 86% of face-to-face card transactions worldwide.