Australian bank Westpac has launched a new collection of cards to make payments more accessible for blind and low vision customers.

As well as including a braille marker, the credit, debit and pre-paid cards have notches along the short edge to allow customers to distinguish between payment cards using only touch. The notches also help customers to orientate cards correctly when making payments or using ATMs.

The cards use Mastercard’s Touch Card feature which uses square notches for credit cards, round for debit cards and triangular one for pre-paid cards.

Westpac said that the cards will be progressively rolled out to customers.

“The features of the new cards are a simple but innovative step forward that will make a big difference in the day-to-day lives of many blind or low vision Australians,” said Annabel Fribence, Westpac’s chief brand and marketing officer. “It’s important to make payments easier for everyone, including customers with vision impairment. “Now all Westpac customers can identify their payment cards by either sight or touch.”

Sally Aurisch, Blind Citizens Australia chief executive, said: “Measures like this can go a long way to giving customers who are blind or vision impaired that extra bit of confidence and independence when stepping up to the payment counter. It is encouraging to see such innovative features being used to make accessibility a priority.”

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