Wells Fargo & Company is testing the Visa Smart Card, which includes the traditional magnetic stripe along with EMV chip technology, to help increase card acceptance worldwide. The pilot includes 15,000 Wells Fargo consumer credit card customers who travel internationally.

EMV is the global industry standard for chip payment technology. The microprocessor chip contains the information needed to use the card for payment, and is protected by various security features. Customers do not see much difference when using an EMV chip.

The EMV cards, personalization and fulfillment services were provided by Giesecke & Devrient. Visa provided Wells Fargo technical and product support to ensure the program meets EMV standards and enables both signature and PIN-based cardholder verification for greater cardholder flexibility.

Wells Fargo is the first large bank to begin testing EMV cards in the U.S. Two credit unions have announced plans to issue EMV cards to their members in the past year.