Why Is My Debit Card Expirable When My Bank Account Has No Expiration Date? – [Audio]

Citibank is launching a payment unit in the likes of Paypal, Stripe and Worldpay to better compete with these native digital companies. Yet, Citibank will need to rely on MasterCard to make this happen, and that can be a source of friction on customer experiences. Yet, the fact is this: the way customers relate with banks is evolving and Citibank understands that redesign. It is taking action to secure its future.

Citigroup is launching a new payments unit that will offer merchants consumer payment options such as credit cards, digital wallets, and direct bank account transfers.

Citigroup is reportedly partnering with payments firms including Mastercard for the new offering. Mastercard will provide some of the back-end connections and processing for merchants, The Wall Street Journal reports.

In this Tekedia Daily, I explain the implications on why we will see drastic changes in the payment ecosystem over the next few years especially now that Apple has introduced the next big thing: number-less, CCV-less, and non-expiry credit cards.

As always, why should my debit card expire when my bank account has no expiration date? I am happy Apple is providing a new thinking into this, by making it clear, that the plastic which derives its life from the bank account has no reason to have any expiration date. Yes, even though we now use the date for security authentication, that is not enough justification to have expiring debit cards – the CCV is just good enough for security if that is the motivation.

I do hope the new adjustment, triggered by Apple, will become the industry standard in coming years. And as that happens, I expect many fintech entities to redesign their technologies and architectures.