Carte Bleue
Encyclopedia : C : CA : CAR : Carte Bleue
Carte Bleue (or "Blue Card" in English) is a major debit card payment scheme operating in France. The system has now been integrated into a wider scheme called CB or Carte bancaire ("banking card"); Carte Bleue, properly said, is the local affiliate of VISA.
The system is national, and pure Carte Bleue / CB cards do not operate outside of France. However, it is possible and commonplace to get Carte Bleue / CB cards also operating as a VISA or a MasterCard outside of France. Some cards also double with the electronic cash system Moneo.
Carte Bleue started in 1967, associating six French banks (BNP, CCF, Crédit du Nord, CIC, Crédit Lyonnais, and Société Générale. Combined Visa cards exist since 1973 under the name Carte Bleue Internationale, changing to Carte Bleue Visa in 1976 (source: [link]).
From 1992 on, all Cartes Bleues / CB have been smart cards. When one uses a Carte Bleue at a French merchant, one has to type the PIN of the card, and a microchip on the card verifies and authenticates the transaction. Only some very limited transactions, such as small autoroute tolls, are paid without PIN. Since automatic teller machines also check for the PIN, this measure strongly reduces the incentive to steal Cartes Bleues, since the cards are essentially useless without the PIN (though one may try using the card number for mail-order or e-retailing). Foreign cards without microchips can still be used at French merchants, with the usual procedure of swiping the magnetic stripe and signing the receipt.
In 2003, the Cartes Bleues / CB started to move on to the international standard EMV for smart chips. They may thus be used in British smart card readers.
A minority of Cartes Bleues are credit cards tied to credit lines.
External links
| Interbank networks by region | |
| Multiregional: | Cirrus | Maestro | PLUS |
| Africa: | 123 | CashNet | Interswitch |
| Asia Pacific: | 1Link | ALTO | Artajasa | atm5 | ATM BCA | ATM Bersama | BancNet | Cashnet | CashTree | CSC | ENS | ETC | Expressnet | Himbara | JETCO | Link | MEPS | MegaLink | MITR | MNET | Nationlink | Superkasa | UnionPay |
| Caribbean: | ATH | Midas | Unired |
| Europe: | 4B | Altın Nokta | BankAxept | BKM | CB | DIAS | Eufiserv | Euronet | Multibanco | Ortak Nokta | Otto | ServiRed | StarNet |
| North America: | Credomatic | Interlink | Interac | NYCE | Pulse | RED | Red Total | SHAZAM | STAR | The Exchange |
| South America: | Interbank | Link | Redbanc | Telebanco | Unicard |
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