Image-conscious credit card carriers may soon have a dramatic new look in their wallets after 3M announced the development of a totally transparent material that can be used to make credit cards.

Previous attempts to produce clear cards failed as cash machines use infra red light to detect when a card is inserted, but the producers of this new material say their technology overcomes this problem and that cards made from it will be fully compatible with all current ATMs.

While on the surface this seems to be just a gimmick, one only needs to consider the transition from silver ‘prestige’ cards to gold, then platinum, then black, not to mention distinctively shaped cards like mint, to see that setting a card apart visually can be just as important to its popularity as the actual features it offers.

We can probably expect to see a rash of new transparent cards aimed at premium and ‘trendy’ customers, although who’d bet against the Co-op Clear Card getting a makeover in the near future?

This entry was posted on Friday, November 10th, 2006 at 2:56 pm and is filed under General Credit Card News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.