MasterCard is launching a new credit card called True Name that will allow transgender people to use their chosen names on their card.
A MasterCard spokesperson said the company is working with bank partners in Canada to offer the card here.
The card is an effort to combat discrimination at the cash register for transgender and non-binary people, the company said in a release.
About a third of transgender people report have negative experiences when they have shown a credit card with a name that did not match their appearance, MasterCard said.
They also run into problems such as harassment or denial of service if they give a name that appears to be different from what is shown on other ID.
People who are in transition often don’t have ID with their new names, though Canada is now allowing alternative gender ID on travel documents.
MasterCard said it plans to issue the True Name card with “a sensitive and private process free of personal questions, that will allow for true names, not dead names, to appear on cards without the requirement of a legal name change.”
It is up to the banks that issue the cards to actually implement the change and on Monday, MasterCard called on those banks to do so.
MasterCard spokesperson Hyunjoo Kim said the True Name card is being launched in the U.S., but will be available industry-wide.
“Mastercard is committed to easing this pain point for the LGBTQIA+ community by creating a product that enables them to reflect their true identity,” she said in an email to CBC News.