Payment Cards in France 2006

Publication Date	October 2006
Publisher	Datamonitor
Product Type	Report
Pages	94
ISBN Number	not applicable
Product Code	DAT04160

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Summary

Introduction

Payment Cards in France is an invaluable guide to one of Europe's most sophisticated card markets. Created using a combination of secondary and primary research, this report provides statistics on market size, competitor market shares and acceptance. It also provides an overview of regulation, competitor activities and product innovation. It concludes with market forecast and a SWOT analysis.

Scope

The focus of the report is on consumer payment cards, as opposed to commercial products.
Data and analysis provided on debit cards, credit cards and deferred debit and charge cards.
The report parameters extend to card issuance only. Merchant acquiring and card processing are not covered.
Historic market data is presented for 2001-2005, with forecast presented to 2010. Competitor shares for card issuers are presented for 2005.

Highlights

In France the consumer payment card market is relatively sophisticated, with the vast majority of payment cards being pay later cards. Furthermore, the pay later market is largely dominated by deferred debit and charge cards and over the last five years, has achieved the highest growth of 11.7 per cent in terms of transaction values.

In March 2006 the EPC published a revised version of its Cards Framework, which sets out the rules needed for the implementation of a Single Euro Payments Area. In the same year Banque de France and the FBF set up a SEPA committee and it anticipates adopting a French SEPA migration program by the end of 2006.

France has reached an advanced stage in EMV migration and has seen its fraud levels fall. More specifically, by May 2006, France had 89 per cent of its cards converted to EMV smart cards. In addition, all of its ATMs had been migrated to the EMV standard as well as 88 per cent of its EFTPOS terminals.

Reasons to Purchase

Learn how the French consumer payment card market has developed over the last five years.
Understand recent developments in the market in terms of consolidation, new entrants and product innovations.
Use our five year forecasts for the market to plan your future strategy.

Content

Executive Summary
Introduction
- What is this report about?
- Scope of the report
- Structure of report
Market Context
- Introduction
- Country overview
- Demographics
- Economy
- GDP
- Inflation
- Distribution of income (GINI Coefficient)
- Segmentation of liquid assets
- Unemployment
- Market size
- Payment cards in the context of consumer payments
- Payment card statistics
- Number of cards in issue
- Number of transactions
- Value of transactions
- Card acceptance
- ATM statistics
- POS statistics
- Regulatory environment
- Structure of French retail banking
- Commercial banks
- Mutual and co-operative banks
- Municipal credit banks (Caisses de crdit municipal)
- There are only 20 municipal credit banks in France
- The French banking structure is more complex than it seems
- The hybrid structure means that the differentiation between commercial and mutual banks is blurring
- Finance houses are important players in the retail financial market
- Other players in the retail banking market
- Creation of a postal bank
- Regulation of French retail banking
- Regulatory bodies
- Banque de France
- Commission Bancaire
- The Credit Institutions and Investments Firms Committee (CECEI)
- The Banking and Financial Regulatory Committee (CRBF)
- Banking associations
- Groupement des Cartes Bancaires (CB)
- Association Franaise des Etablissements de Crdit et des Entreprises d'Investissements (AFECEI)
- Association Franaise des Socits Financires (ASF)
- Fdration Bancaire Franaise (FBF)
- Other noteworthy associations
- Association Franaise des Banques (AFB)
- Conseil national du Crdit et du Titre (advisory bodies)
- Comit Consultatif
- Credit bureaux
- A look at the top four card players in France
- Crdit Agricole
- BNP Paribas
- Caisses national d'Epargne
- Socit Gnrale
- Recent regulatory developments
- Key issues
- SEPA
- EMV and fraud
- France: aligning with the international standard
- EMV migration in France
- The EMV migration in France is another success story
Competitor And Product Overview
- Introduction
- Card scheme market shares
- Pay now cards
- Number of cards in issue
- Value of transactions
- Credit cards
- Number of cards in issue
- Value of transactions
- Deferred debit and charge cards
- Number of cards in issue
- Value of transactions
- Card issuer market shares
- Pay now card issuer market shares
- Credit card issuer market shares
- Deferred debit and charge card issuer market shares
- Competitor developments
- Groupement des Cartes Bancaires stands accused of restricting foreign entry
- There has been consolidation in the domestic market in recent years
- Sofinco acquires part of the Finaref cards portfolio
- Banque Accord acquires Egg France
- Crdit Lyonnais and Crdit Agricole form a megamerger
- Merger and acquisition activity was moderate in 2005 and 2006 in the French market
- Several domestic players are looking to expand abroad
- Socit Gnrale looks outside of France for further expansion
- BNP Paribas is another example of a bank expanding in Central Eastern Europe
- Citibank is looking to expand in Europe
- Alliances and partnerships
- Alliances and partnerships among consumer credit companies
- Foreign players enter co-branded partnerships in France
- Product analysis
- The price of deferred debit cards
- Revolving credit cards and their fees
- APR rates range from 14.5 to 19.98 per cent
- Loyalty programs
- Product innovation
- BNP Paribas to roll out talking ATMs
- Credit cards transferable into gift products
Forecasting The Payment Card Market In France
- Introduction
- Forecasting the pay now card market
- Forecasting the charge and deferred debit card market
- Forecasting the credit card market
- SWOT analysis
- Strengths
- Weaknesses
- Opportunities
- Threats
Appendix
- Supplementary data
- Market Context
- Forecasting the Plastic Card Market in France
- Definitions
- AAGR
- Affinity card
- CAGR
- Co-branded card
- Credit card
- Deferred debit and charge card
- EMV
- EPC
- ePurse
- Merchant Service Charge
- Pay now cards
- PoS terminal
- Private label cards
- Research methodology
- Cards and Payments Database
- Future readings
- Future publications
- Datamonitor's custom research capabilities
- Cards & Payments Team contact details
- How to contact experts in your industry
List of Tables
- Table 1: GDP per capita for selected European countries, 2005
- Table 2: GINI Coefficient for selected European countries
- Table 3: Segmentation of liquid assets, 2005
- Table 4: Main players under each pillar, 2002
- Table 5: Examples of finance houses, 2003
- Table 6: Annual fees in the deferred debit card market, 2006
- Table 7: APR charges for a selection of revolving credit cards, 2006
- Table 8: Datamonitor's forecast for the pay now card market, 2006 - 2010f
- Table 9: Datamonitor's forecast for the deferred debit and charge card market, 2006 - 2010f
- Table 10: Datamonitor's forecast for the credit card market, 2006 - 2010f
- Table 11: GDP at current rates for major European countries , 2001-2005
- Table 12: Inflation in France, 2001-2005
- Table 13: Population numbers and demographic splits in Belgium and other major European countries, 2005
- Table 14: Value of consumer spending by payment method, 2003
- Table 15: GDP at current rates across major European countries, 2005
- Table 16: Real GDP growth rates, 2001-2005
- Table 17: The total number of ATM terminals and the number of people per ATM, 2004
- Table 18: The total number of POS terminals and the number of people per POS, 2004
- Table 19: Fraud losses in France, 2002-2005
- Table 20: Deferred debit and charge card issuer market shares, 2005
- Table 21: Forecasting the pay now card market 2005-2010f
- Table 22: Forecasting the deferred debit and charge card market 2006-2010f
- Table 23: Forecasting the credit card market 2006-2010f
- Table 24: Current relevant Datamonitor publications, 2006
- Table 25: Future relevant Datamonitor publications, 2006
List of Figures
- Figure 1: Country overview, 2005
- Figure 2: France has the second highest population in Europe, 2005
- Figure 3: France has one of the lowest proportion of population over the age of 20 in Europe, 2005
- Figure 4: France has the third highest GDP in Europe, 2005
- Figure 5: France has enjoyed a period of positive economic growth from 2001 - 2005
- Figure 6: The French economy is dominated by the services sector, while the agriculture sector accounts for 2.2 per cent of economic output, 2005
- Figure 7: French inflation has been kept at or below 2 per cent per annum in recent years, 2000-2005
- Figure 8: Cheques and cash are the most popular forms of payment in France, 2003
- Figure 9: Deferred debit and charge cards dominate the French market, 2001-2005
- Figure 10: Deferred debit and charge cards account for the largest share of total plastic card transactions, 2001-2005
- Figure 11: Pay now cards were the most frequently used cards in 2005, 2001-2005
- Figure 12: Deferred debit and charge cards account for the largest share of transaction values, 2001-2005
- Figure 13: Average transaction values are highest on credit cards, 2001-2005
- Figure 14: The total number of ATM terminals has been rising steadily, 2000 - 2004
- Figure 15: The total number of POS terminals has risen, but the number of POS terminals per capita has fallen, 2000 - 2004
- Figure 16: The three pillars of the French banking structure
- Figure 17: Regulatory overview of France, 2004
- Figure 18: Total fraud losses have fallen since 2003, 2002-2005
- Figure 19: Visa holds the leading position in the pay now market, 2001 - 2005
- Figure 20: Visa achieved the highest value of transactions for pay now cards in 2005
- Figure 21: Visa had the largest number of credit cards in 2005
- Figure 22: Visa dominates the credit card market, 2001-2005
- Figure 23: Visa has the strongest presence in the deferred debit and charge card market, 2001 - 2005
- Figure 24: Visa has the strongest presence in the deferred debit and charge card market, 2001 - 2005
- Figure 25: BNP Paribas is the leading pay now card issuer, 2005
- Figure 26: Crdit Agricole is the dominant credit card issuer in France, 2005
- Figure 27: Credit Agricole is the leading issuer of deferred debit and charge cards, 2005
- Figure 28: Main merger and acquisition activities in the French market, 2002-2006
- Figure 29: Growth in the number of transactions forecasted to drive the pay now market forward, 2006-2010f
- Figure 30: Usage of deferred debit and charge cards is forecasted to show only modest growth, 2006-2010f
- Figure 31: Card usage of credit cards is predicted to be primary driver in the market, 2006-2010f
- Figure 32: SWOT analysis of the French payment cards market, 2006
- Figure 33: Datamonitor's core consulting capabilities