As far as an example of a recent application, the financial industry has been quick to adopt smart card technology in countries around the world. For example, every French Visa Debit card has a chip built in it. There are currently more that 25,000,000 in circulation. In Germany, about 40,000,000 banking cards have been issued. EuroPay, MasterCard, and Visa all have smart card programs for their bank members. These debit smart cards serve as an electronic purse – and can carry with them the individual’s specific financial standing and current balances.