Panama gets Interlink debit card services.

MIAMI -- Sistema Clave, which is Panama's dominant shared electronic banking network, has become the first switch outside the United States to offer member institutions the ability to issue Interlink debit cards.

Interlink is Visa International's on-line debit point of sale product. More than 38,500 merchants worldwide accept Interlink cards.

The move is part of a Visa strategy to improve the utility of Interlink cards by expanding their acceptance outside of the United States.

Sistema Clave brings to Interlink about 200 new merchants and 50,000 new cards from the network's 12 member financial institutions.

In September, Banco General, the largest of Sistema Clave's members, will be the first Panamanian bank to activate Interlink cards. The bank is also the first financial institution outside the United States to announce its intention to issue Interlink.

Visa believes that Interlink will benefit from the fact that Sistema Clave customers have already been exposed to POS debit. The network currently handles about 25,000 debit point of sale transactions monthly.

As in point of sale programs in the United States, most of these transactions hail from supermarkets and gas stations.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
MORE FROM AMERICAN BANKER