Monday, March 20, 2006
Credit card firm posts 27% growth
By Ben O. Tesiorna
VISA International, a credit card company, registered a 27.1 percent increase in retail sales volume for 2005.
In its 2005 financial figures, the company's retail sales volume from Philippine cardholders amounted to P76.5 billion. This figure represents total purchase transactions made through Visa cards at merchant point-of-sale (POS) terminals and over the Internet.
Total card sales volume including cash advances and ATM withdrawals, meanwhile, reached P183.3 billion or a 48.1 percent increase from 2004.
The total number of transactions also grew by 34 percent to over 70.8 million transactions reflecting the increasing recognition of the benefits of using electronic payment cards by Filipinos.
Visa International country manager for the Philippines James Dixon said that while majority of retail volume came from Visa credit cardholders, Visa debit products also achieved significant growth with a 29.3 percent growth in their retail sales volume.
Dixon said over P1.5 billion worth of sales were transacted using Visa debit cards at merchant POS terminals in 2005. Total debit card sales volume grew to P104 billion, a 67.3% increase from the previous year.
The number of transactions made through Visa debit products reached 35 million or an increase of 48.7 from 2004 record.
"The Visa 2005 figures represent growing acceptance from both consumers and merchants towards electronic payment cards. Both Visa credit and Visa debit achieved significant growth in 2005," Dixon said during media briefing last Thursday.
"With more and more banks offering Visa credit, debit and prepaid products and more merchants accepting Visa cards we expect this growth trend to continue," he added.
By end of 2005, over 69,300 merchant outlets in the Philippines were accepting Visa cards.
On the other hand, expenditures by international Visa cardholders visiting the Philippines totaled to almost P50 billion in 2005, an increase of 46 percent over the previous year. It is estimated that approximately 35 percent of all tourist expenditures in the Philippines is made using a visa card.
Globally, Visa connects over 1.3 billion cardholders, 24 million merchants and 21,000 financial institutions.
"Visa is the largest global payment card association that provides unparalleled convenience, security and rewarding ways to pay or be paid. Visa is committed to offering more and better products and services that help boost the Philippine economy," Dixon said. (BOT)
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