Security concerns have led many places in Europe to accept only chip-and-pin credit cards, which causes trouble for travellers with magnetic-stripe cards.

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To understand the present and predict the future, we must look to the past, specifically previous attempts to replace magnetic stripe credit cards.

FORBES: Have We Seen The Last Of Credit Cards As We Know Them?

" Unlike the West, says Catherine Allen, founder of U.S.-based Smart Card Forum, the region "does not have the embedded infrastructure of magnetic-stripe cards to get rid of.

CNN: ASIANOW - Asiaweek

Since then, most European nations as well as Japan and Canada have adopted this so-called EMV international credit card standard and abandoned magnetic stripe credit cards for chip-and-pin cards in the process.

FORBES: Have We Seen The Last Of Credit Cards As We Know Them?

"Because it's contact-less there's a perception people can grab it from thin air, but it's actually a more sophisticated technology than credit cards with a magnetic stripe, making it more difficult to steal a consumer's payment information, " said Nick Holland, a mobile-transactions analyst at Yankee Group.

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The cards have a programmable magnetic stripe that gives customers more functions than your standard piece of plastic.

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Able to carry many times more information than an ordinary magnetic-stripe card, one smart card can be used for a variety of transactions that currently require a variety of cards.

CNN: ASIANOW - Asiaweek