Hong Kong, as well as Australia and Thailand have reached one million EMV chip cards issued by Visa’s member banks, according to an announcement from Visa Aisa Pacific. More than 600,000 chip cards have been issued in Hong Kong during Q4 2006.

The three markets have joined Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Malaysia in the one million chip card club from Visa’s member banks.

More than 63 million Visa EMV cards now are in circulation in the Asia Pacific, representing 19 percent of Visa’s card base. “Combined with the 1.68 million EMV chip terminals deployed, Visa and its member financial institutions are helping to create a secure and advanced chip payment foundation,” said Jack Pan, Regional Head, Chip Migration of Visa Asia Pacific.

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