Mastercard Sees Other Banks Ditching Credit Card Numbers Like Apple Did

First it was the signatures. Now the biggest U.S. banks could be looking to get rid of card numbers, too.

This week, Apple Inc. introduced the Mastercard Inc.-branded Apple Card, which won’t have a number on the physical card as a way to improve security in case a customer loses it. That could encourage other banks to also ditch the static number in favor of more secure limited-use numbers, said Craig Vosburg, president of North America for Mastercard.