Standard Chartered has unveiled a new high-security credit/ debit card for customers in Singapore. The card was developed in a bid to make mandatory measures in the country more customer-friendly.

The cards behave as normal credit cards, but have a built-in security token for authentication across a wide range of online and mobile services – a world-first according to Standard Chartered. The cards were developed over 12 months by the bank in partnership with NagraID, Gemalto, Mastercard and Visa.

Trevor Haeger, CIO, Singapore, Standard Chartered said the solution met with a positive response through the testing phase, with the core driver being convenience.

“When we considered the introduction of extra online security features, we were committed to making it as convenient and seamless as possible through the introduction of a 2-in-1 security token card,” he said.

While the solution was developed specifically to meet Singapore regulatory requirements, the bank will consider deploying the solution to other markets. “We are investigating the feasibility of introducing to other countries on a market-by-market basis and in alignment with local regulatory requirements,” Haeger said. “We constantly look at ways of improving our security to be ahead of the game.”

From January 2013, customers of Singapore banks using online banking will require security tokens enhanced with ‘Transaction Signing’ ability. These are physical tokens that perform a wide range of activities, including:

•   Logging into online banking and mobile banking;

• Adding third-party payees;

• Transferring or making large payments;

• Updating personal details with the bank; and

• Changing online banking passwords