Nine banks that will participate in Visa's pilot of new smart cards that will cost just half as much as ordinary smart cards when bought in bulk include Bank of America, Bank One/First USA, Capital One, Chase, Citibank, FleetBoston, MBNA, Providian, and Wells Fargo. Participation by these major card issuers should ensure that Visa and partners Gemplus and Sun Microsystems will have sufficient volume to cut the price of the cards.