Central, Eastern Europe Seeing 10% Growth In Cards Issued: Report

Russia and Poland are leading Central and Eastern Europe in the number of payment cards issued, according to a report prepared by London-based Retail Banking Research Ltd. At the end of 2008, financial institutions in 14 Central and Eastern Europe nations had issued 264 million debit and credit cards, up 10.5% from 239 million a year earlier, according to the report “Payment Cards: Central and Eastern Europe 2010.” By comparison, Retail Banking Research says the growth in cards issued in Western Europe between 2008 and 2007 was 5%. Retail Banking Research says 16 million of the additional cards issued in 2008 were in Russia, where banks routinely enroll businesses in corporate accounts so companies can pay employees’ salaries through credit transfers. Employees were asked to open bank accounts with debit cards tied to them. Financial institutions in Poland issued 4 million new payment cards in 2008. Of all the cards issued in the region last year 83% were debit cards, 2% were charge cards, and 15% were credit cards, Retail Banking Research says. Debit cards are so dominate that only in four nations—Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia—do credit and charge cards account for more than 30% of each nation’s total, Retail Banking Research says. Cardholders in the 14 nations initiated 2.3 billion card payments in 2008, up 21.1% from 1.9 billion in 2007. As consumers become “accustomed to using cards more frequently for payment, and as card-acceptance networks expand, transaction volumes are growing significantly faster than card numbers,” Retail Banking Research says. In related research, merchants deployed 1.1 million point-of-sale terminals in the region, a 26% increase from the previous year, the company says.