Number of Visa cards up 28% to 3.4m

THE NUMBER of Visa cards issued to Irish customers increased by 28 per cent last year to 3.4 million, as Permanent TSB customers switched to Visa debit during the year, and more Irish consumers used credit and debit cards for small purchases.

Results for Visa Ireland for the year ended September 30th, 2011, show that a total of €13 billion was spent or withdrawn using a Visa card last year, an increase of 48 per cent.

Some €10 billion of this related to point-of-sale transactions.

Next year’s figures are likely to increase further as Bank of Ireland and AIB switch from Laser debit cards to Visa Debit this year. Ulster Bank moved to Visa debit cards in 2010.

Last year’s increase reflected a 76 per cent jump in the number of Visa card transactions made. While this was due in part to the increase in users following the Permanent TSB switchover, it also reflected underlying growth, according to Visa Ireland’s Conor Langford, as Irish consumers used their cards for smaller, everyday purchases.

Nonetheless, the figures show that Irish customers are still less likely to use debit and credit cards than most of their European counterparts.

While €1 in every €8 of consumer spend in Ireland is made through Visa, this compares to an average of €1 in €7 across Europe and £1 in £4 in the UK.

Mr Langford said he expects to see significant take-up of Visa’s electronic payment services in Ireland in 2012. This includes “contactless” technology that will allow consumers to pay for products without using the chip or pin system, as well as using personal mobile phones, to pay for goods by placing the handset momentarily over paypads in stores.

Centra has announced plans to introduce this technology in Ireland, while a number of major retailers and service providers in Britain, such as McDonald’s, WH Smith and parts of the London public transport network, have already introduced the technology in their point-of-sale terminals.

Speaking in Dublin yesterday, Marc O’Brien, managing director of Visa Europe’s UK and Ireland divisions, said that contactless payments will enable Visa to target the cash market, particularly smaller, everyday purchases which are generally paid for using notes and coins.

Overall, Visa Europe, which is a separate entity to Visa Inc and is owned by its member banks, saw total expenditure and cash withdrawal made through Visa increase by 12 per cent to €1.7 trillion.

The trend toward people moving away from credit to debit cards continued last year, with the percentage of overall revenue generated by debit card use increasing to 38 per cent from 30 per cent the previous year.