Visa reports strong growth across Middle East for second quarter 2002

According to Visa's latest figures for the eight countries within the Middle East region, cards are taking over from cash as the preferred way to pay for every day goods and services. In the year to June 2002, the number of transactions rose to 150 million per year, representing an increase of 31 per cent, while the region's average spend per card climbed to US$5,585 - one of the highest spending habit's of any region in the world.

More significantly, Visa saw a 25 per cent increase in sales volume in shops and other outlets, underlining a major change in people's behaviour and a growing recognition of the convenience, security and flexibility of modern payments. Furthermore, for the past four years, retail sales volume in the region has risen by 119 per cent.

Peter Scriven, General Manager for Middle East, Visa International said, "It is very encouraging that we continue to see strong, double-digit growth, which proves that cash is no longer king and Visa cards are not just for big spenders and special occasions - increasingly, they are for everybody, every day."

"Integral to the development of the payment infrastructure in the Middle East is the growing acceptance network. Middle Eastern Visa cardholders can currently use their cards at any one of 91,131 locations, of which 89 per cent are at shops or other retail outlets - so removing the need to carry cash", added Mr Scriven.

The propensity to use cards for everyday use is further supported by the rise in debit cards across the region. Debit card numbers increased 25 per cent to 5.7 million in the year to June 2002, with these cards generating a total expenditure value of US$ 32 billion. This growth in debit cards is not just restricted to the Middle East, but is a global phenomenon for Visa - worldwide debit sales volume surpassed
US$1 trillion in the last year, an increase of 23 per cent, with debit now representing 45 per cent of Visa's total card portfolio.

Commenting on the mid-year results, Scriven said, "The first half of 2002 has been an historic time for Visa in the Middle East. We have continued to see card numbers grow significantly to now total 6.7 million cards and we have pioneered the introduction of a secure solution for online shopping - Verified by Visa."

Following a recent agreement signed with MasterCard and JCB, the Verified by Visa technology has now been adopted as a global standard for shopping on the Internet and is expected to reduce fraud arising from online transactions by at least
50 per cent.

Looking forward, several individual countries within the Middle East have recorded promising results for future growth.

The UAE continues to lead the Middle East in terms of card usage proving that people are shopping with Visa more often than ever before. Figures for end June 2002 saw the average number of transactions per card increase by 27 per cent to 29 times each year - a figure that is closely in line with card usage in Western Europe and America, which currently averages between 30 and 40 times a year.

In Oman, the demand for Visa cards is growing year-on-year with figures revealing a 33 per cent increase in card numbers from June 2001. Over the past four years card numbers have increased by a staggering 1,711 per cent from 29,000 cards to now reach the milestone of half a million cards.

As CEMEA's biggest market in terms of cardholder expenditure, Saudi Arabia recorded 22 per cent growth to US$16 billion per annum, while the number of transactions increased by 26 per cent to 65 million - this represents over a third of all transactions in the Middle East and equates to 7,533 transactions every hour, 126 every minute, and 2.1 every second.

In Lebanon, the total number of transactions to June 2002 totalled 4.7million, which represents an increase of 43 per cent from the previous year - the third highest growth pattern throughout the Middle East. In addition, figures revealed a staggering 51 per cent increase in card numbers since the same period last year, the highest growth in the region, and means that there are now over a quarter of a million cards in circulation throughout the country.

Jordan is emerging as one of Visa's fastest growing markets with now nearly 750,000 cards in circulation - this represents an increase of 32 per cent in card numbers over the previous year and an incredible 1,709 per cent increase over the past four years.

In terms of retail purchases, Kuwait has seen the highest growth in retail sales value throughout the region from approximately US$600,000 to nearly US$900,000 - this equates to a 38 per cent rise on spending in shops, restaurants and other outlets proving that Visa is being used more and more for everyday spending.

Conditions for card use in Qatar have continued to improve with over 2,500 acceptance locations across the country. This equates to a 32 per cent increase over the year and 60 per cent since 1998 - the fastest growing market in terms of acceptance in the region.

Bahrain retains a steady level of growth in the card industry with a 15 per cent rise in card numbers to achieve a total of 190,000 cards. Spending also increased by 14 per cent with annual cardholder expenditure reaching US$ 580 million.

Global statistics for year ending 30 June, 2002:

• Visa global sales volume has surpassed US$2.3 trillion, an increase of 17 per cent on the previous year.

• Visa now accounts for 7.7 per cent of global personal consumer expenditure (PCE), a figure that the payment organisation expects to increase to at least 12 per cent by 2010.

• Visa has seen an average annual increase in its share of global PCE of 12.6 percent over the past five years.

• Worldwide, there are currently over 1.2 billion Visa payment cards accepted at more than 28 million physical locations including 800,000 ATMs.

ENDS