A new Citibank credit card, labeled CARD 2.0 or 2G, is expected to begin its consumer testing phase later this year.  The new card features built-in buttons, new security encryption technology, and even an LED display and was developed by Dynamics, Inc.  Citibank hopes the 2G card will greatly improve credit card security while giving customers the option to link multiple accounts to a single card.

CEO of Dynamics, Inc., said, "we are trying to be the innovation arm of an industry that has never had one."  The Citibank 2G card will begin consumer testing later in the month and is hoped to be released for use in 2011.  Citi hopes that the new technological innovations will attract customers and keep them competitive in a difficult market.

Citi's 2G credit card should give consumers the option of paying for their purchases with their reward points.  “We’ve developed a proprietary technology that will allow Citi to do the conversion (of rewards points to dollars) when the transaction comes through,” says executive vice president of Citi Cards, Terry O’Neil.  Although the ability of using reward points to pay for purchases has been available online for years, having the ability to do so at the register is a new idea.  The capacity to do so may be an attractive feature for Citi credit cards.

Aside from the elaborate features, Citi is also interested in the 2G card's increased security.  The card's fraud protection technology can save Citi millions of dollars in unauthorized charge claims.  The innovations used in the 2G card allows credit card issuers to remotely deactivate the card, rewriting the card's magnetic strip and rendering the piece of plastic useless to thieves.  Citi hopes the new technology would drastically lower card theft.

With an increase faith in mobile devices as the payment method of the future, Citi is trying to remain technologically competitive with the 2G card.