Financial Cards and Payments

Financial cards and payments in Egypt continued to perform positively in 2018, despite facing challenges such as relatively low card penetration rates, underdeveloped payment infrastructure, a large rural population and the strong presence of ...

Whilst total card transactions in Australia continued to increase as strong growth in debit and credit card transactions was driven by such factors as convenience and reward promotions, new developments such as peer-to-peer (P2P), buy-now-pay-later ...

At the beginning of 2018 the revised European Payment Services Directive (PSD2) entered into force. The new regulation requires banks to disclose information on customers’ account data to third-party companies with a view to fostering innovation and ...

A robust economy, rising disposable incomes and strong consumer confidence all supported the transaction value and volume growth of financial cards in Germany in 2018. German consumers showed themselves to be willing to spend their money, ...

In a continuation from earlier years, Sweden witnessed a robust trend in which cash payments declined, while digital payments eroded the share of payment by financial cards. In terms of payment types, cash has already dropped to single-digit values ...

Financial cards in circulation recorded stable volume growth in Singapore in 2018. This volume growth can be attributed to the fact that with Singapore’s drive towards a cashless society, an increasing number of merchants, including hawker centres ...

Total consumer payment transactions are steadily increasing in Thailand, both in volume of transactions and value of payments. The growth of consumer payment transactions is mainly driven by Thailand’s upbeat economy, encouraging local consumers to ...

In 2018, financial cards recorded strong growth as consumers increasingly shifted from cash to card payments. Pre-paid cards and debit cards remained the key drivers of growth. Increasing numbers of consumers prefer debit cards instead of cash for ...

In 2018, the number of cash transactions in Ukraine continued to fall while the volume and value of card transactions rose sharply. Consumer awareness about modern payment methods is gradually improving in the country despite the absence of strong ...

Venezuelans are concerned about obtaining bolivars for any transaction, as they will need more notes to buy the same thing. The smallest denomination of paper money in any country should be intended to at least be able to pay for short transportation...

In 2018, Vietnam remained largely a cash society. Many people living in urban areas are still in the habit of using cash, especially for low-value daily transactions such as buying meals, topping up fuel and parking. In many rural areas, there are ...

Positive growth continued to be seen in most financial cards and payments categories in 2018 as the drive towards financial inclusion and the strong demand for credit continued to expand the industry’s consumer base. Debit cards is still the main ...

While cash remains the largest and most common payment method in Japan, consumers are becoming increasingly positive about switching from cash to cards. As a result, card transactions witnessed a significant increase in value over the review period, ...

Financial cards transactions overall continue to post healthy growth in South Korea as it increasingly becomes a cashless society. This is being driven by the government continuing to encourage South Korean consumers to use financial cards rather ...

Following the implementation of VAT in 2018 and a general slowdown in consumer expenditure, consumers remained cautious in terms of their spending. Whilst consumers remain careful, they are availing themselves of offers and rewards across their ...

In 2018, the financial cards and payments industry in Russia continued to record a positive performance and see structural changes in terms of payments. Economic recovery, political factors, improved consumer purchasing power and Russians’ increased ...

Financial cards are on a path that only seems to be going up in Romania. 2017 and 2018 marked new peaks in terms of number of cards in circulation, transactions and value. On the one hand this was the result of the favourable environment, with the ...

The consumer confidence index was shaky at the start of 2018, as concerns mounted around how the upcoming presidential elections would affect the Mexican economy. However, the positive results of the election helped to stabilise the economy and give ...

Brazil’s economy faced its worst recession in decades in the later part of the review period, marked by the deterioration of the labour market. High levels of unemployment have made consumers more cautious about making large purchases or taking on ...

Major financial players have continued to strengthen their dominant position in financial cards. The highly competitive environment favours the ongoing concentration around larger, established banks. Smaller players, by contrast, are more likely to ...