The U.S. Bank Voyager Network is adding a security chip to its fleet card that will be available in the summer, Mastercard and U.S. Bank have announced.

The card network is believed to be the first to offer a fleet car with the EMV M/Chip from Mastercard. Voyager Fleet card customers will soon benefit from the added speed and security of EMV and safeguard the use of future payments solutions including mobile wallet and connected car technology, according to a release.

Building on a multi-year partnership, Mastercard and U.S. Bank are further enhancing security and convenience for fleet managers and drivers with a reliable, proprietary network with more than 320,000 retail and private fueling sites, truck stops and maintenance and service providers. The new enhancements also enable Voyager Fleet Card customers to capture more data from their card users with ten data capture fields that can be tailored to the unique requirements of employers.

"We know that fleet managers are constantly looking to strengthen overall performance, whether that is by improving security, capturing critical data or adding convenience for their drivers. With millions of fleet cards in circulation, the new EMV M/Chip Fleet solution and the U.S. Bank Voyager Network will reshape the future of fleet cards," said Ed Glassman, Mastercard's executive vice president of North America commercial products.

"We are very pleased to reach an agreement with Mastercard to adopt their fleet-specific chip specification, which aligns with proprietary technology that we were developing," said John Hardin, U.S. Bank's global transportation payments general manager. "Our top objective is to ensure our 320,000 merchant locations don't face the additional investment and complication of implementing multiple chip specs. They can now support both Mastercard and Voyager Fleet cards with a single spec."

The Mastercard and U.S. Bank enhanced EMV fleet technology will become available in North America in the summer.