UBS launches sustainable credit card made from corn

UBS Optimus Foundation eco credit card
CONTACTLESS: The Optimus Foundation Credit Card Eco is made of biodegradable corn-based PLA

Customers of Swiss bank UBS can now opt for an environmentally friendly credit card made from a corn-based plastic substitute — and will soon be able to apply for a digital-only card that they can start using immediately upon acceptance.

UBS’s contactless-enabled Optimus Foundation Credit Card Eco is made from PLA, an 80% biodegradable material made from renewable animal feed corn, and is part of the bank’s drive to make sustainability “standard at UBS — not only for investment and financial products, but also for means of payment”.

The bank is also donating 0.75% of the annual spend made with the sustainable card to its Optimus Foundation charity.

UBS’s new, digital-only credit card will be available from the start of 2021, the bank says. Cardholders will be able to “register a digital version of their credit card with UBS Twint, Mobile Pay, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay or Google Pay or use it in the online store”.

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