PNC announced a new smart card for commercial customers who use PNC’s corporate travel and purchasing cards. The new PNC chip card features an embedded EMV microchip that will help to protect against fraudulent activity and to improve the point of sale experience when used outside of the United States.

India is emerging as one of the world’s fastest growing smart card markets, according to a new research report by RNCOS. With more than one billion in population and increasing modern application areas, India is anticipated to grow at a compound annual growth rate of approximately 15% during 2011-2014.

GlobalPlatform and SIMalliance have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to improve application security on mobile devices.

Through the formal partnership, the associations say they will work together to develop an end-to-end solution that will enable a mobile device application to communicate with an application loaded in a secure element.

British Columbia is moving forward with plans to upgrade its CareCard program. According to The Vancouver Sun, the new card will provide access to a variety of regional services including electronic health records, driver license and school registration for children.