South African banks are catching on to a trend that is not exactly turning card design on its head, but certainly on its side.
Capitec Bank is the latest financial institution - after Discovery and Absa - to introduce a "vertical card", preferring, from a branding and technology point of view, the portrait format to the traditional landscape style of debit and credit cards.
The bank worked closely with Mastercard on the look of the new card, which has been two years in the making, says Capitec's marketing executive Francois Viviers.
Payment cards started off with a magnetic strip spanning the width of the card on the back, but chip and PIN technology and tap-to-pay functionality have changed the way people use their cards at till points.
"The portrait design was highlighted as a new international trend since people tap or 'dip' cards to pay, rather than swipe as we used to," says Viviers.
Capitec also removed the white signature strip on the back of the card and some other redundant detail, using the space for the card number instead.
US bank JPMorgan Chase has been using vertical cards since 2010.
Discovery was first to launch them in the local market.
"Going vertical is more than just the orientation of the card - it represents convenience in the way people use their cards and how people interact with their money," says Akash Dowra, Discovery Bank's head of technical marketing and client insight.
The new look did have some design challenges, he says.
Traditional equipment needs a wide surface on which to emboss the card's number, the expiry date and the cardholder's name, which the orientation of the vertical card does not provide.
And simply printing the number on the card wouldn't work.
"Our tests indicated that printed numbers wear out after a period of time. Therefore we imported special laser engravers to personalise all our cards, and added a laser-proof technology to our cards to protect them," says Dowra.
Absa, which launched a vertical student card in February, did considerable research first.
"We have taken into account the digital lifestyle - the ratios on the face of the card are in proportion so it can be easily captured by apps," says Christine Wu, Absa's managing executive for customer value management.
The plan is to gradually go vertical with all Absa's cards, Wu says.
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