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Recently, on many bank cards, their numbers are located not on the front, but on the reverse side. Is this the usual whim of designers, or does this move have a more rational explanation?

In the US, a new trend has affected the maps of all levels of service - from budget Capital One 360 ​​to premium American Express Platinum, says Slate. The fact is that today the card number has already ceased to have such importance, as before.

For the payment of an old-style card (with a magnetic stripe), the signature of the owner on the check was required. On the same check, the card number was displayed, so that if necessary, they could be checked and confirmed or canceled the disputed operation.

However, new cards work differently - microchips generate unique transaction codes, and the signature of the cardholder becomes simply unnecessary. Accordingly, card issuers have more opportunities to experiment with their design.

By the way, in the late 1990's in the United States began to gain popularity not plastic, and metal cards - purely for aesthetic reasons. This card is simply more pleasant to hold in hands, and when calculating it, you can slap it on the rack. For obvious reasons, the inscriptions on these cards began to be applied not with embossing, but with a laser, and this technology eventually gained mass popularity.

Most people really care about what their credit cards look like, so with increasing competition in the market, their design will become an increasingly important factor. Until the cards as such (in their physical form) cease to exist, the banks will strive to make them as attractive and personalized as possible. Rejecting the number on the front side gives banks much more room for creativity and helps to attract more attention to their brands.

For cardholders, the new trend also has its advantages. First, despite the presence of chips, not everyone likes to "shine" with the card number - when it is hidden on the reverse side, people feel more secure. Secondly, more and more people are making purchases on the Internet today, and placing all the necessary information on one side of the map makes this process much more convenient.

Thus, the transfer of card numbers to the reverse side, first of all, is caused by the desire to improve their design. But this desire conceals the desire of banks to obtain any, even a minimal competitive advantage. In the market, where every day is increasingly calculated by cards, any such trifle can lead to a significant increase in profits.