Card and electronic transactions increased further in 2018 but payments in Austria continued to be dominated by cash. Cash has a very high emotional value for Austrian consumers and the concept of a cashless society is unpopular. Following an intense public debate over transaction fees on ATM withdrawals, the Austrian government gave in to...
Positive growth continued to be seen in most financial cards and payments categories in 2018 as the drive towards financial inclusion and the strong demand for credit continued to expand the industry’s consumer base. Debit cards is still the main category, with the number of cards in circulation still rising due to the increasing payment of...
The financial cards and payments industry in Canada has long been dominated by the “big six”, namely Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), Bank of Montreal (BOM), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, The Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank), Toronto Dominion Bank (TD) and the National Bank of Canada. Particularly in credit cards and debit cards, the two...
Brazil’s economy faced its worst recession in decades in the later part of the review period, marked by the deterioration of the labour market. High levels of unemployment have made consumers more cautious about making large purchases or taking on debt. In this scenario, even consumers who have not lost their jobs have started to plan their...
Since Mauricio Macri became president, the government has become more involved in all matters related to methods of payment. During 2017, a schedule to reduce the fees that payment processors charge to merchants was approved by law, under the auspices of the Federal Administration of Public Income (AFIP), which is increasingly pushing merchants...
This report on the global plastic cards market analyzes opportunities in the market, and presents updates and insights relating to various segments of the global plastic cards market over the forecast period 2018–2026. The scope of the report on the plastic cards market consists of different technologies used in plastic cards, such...
With 56 million trips per month, the SUBE card is used in 33 cities in the country, not counting the metropolitan area and greater Buenos Aires. An important novelty that was introduced at the end of 2017 was the possibility of charging the card through the mercadopago or pagomiscuentas.com apps. This is very helpful for users that in many...
2017 marked the end of the so-called universal cards in France (cartes universelles), which were cards where debit, credit and charge transactions could not be identified. These cards benefited from a special common interchange fee of 0.23% on transactions until December 2016. Charge cards are now considered by regulators as “credit cards”,...
The period following June 2016, when American Express, the area’s dominant player, lost a significant portion of its co-branded card business with Costco (the country’s largest wholesale club) saw a double digit decrease in both cards in circulation and charge card value spend. At the end of 2017, there were incipient signs of recovery, with...
Charge cards are witnessing a positive performance in 2018, for many reasons. A considerable number of customers are switching from credit cards due to better management and control of spending. In addition, bankers are encouraging customers to choose charge cards because they remain less risky than credit cards. Professionals and companies...