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Holders of Visa debit cards in the United States initiated 5.3 billion ATM and purchase transactions during the fiscal third quarter ended June 30, up 8.1% from 4.9 billion during the same period last year, Visa Inc. reported yesterday. Purchases made with those cards totaled $210 billion, up 8.8% from $193 billion. Visa debit cards issued in the U.S., including Interlink, Plus and Visa check cards, totaled 311 million on June 30, up 4% from 299 million a year earlier. Outside of the U.S., debit cardholders initiated 860 million ATM and purchase transactions, up 5.9% from 812 million during the same period a year ago. Purchases on those cards totaled $38 billion, up 8.6% from $35 billion. Debit cards issued outside the U.S. totaled 535 million, up 4.9% from 510 million. In September, Visa signed a multiyear agreement with The Royal Bank of Scotland Group to issue Visa-branded debit cards to all its customers, including Citizens Financial Group, which was a MasterCard Worldwide issuer, in the United States. Visa expects the deal with the bank to add meaningful revenue in the long term, Saunders says, noting Royal Bank of Scotland's migration to the Visa brand should occur in the second half of 2009.
