£1 in £3 in the UK Now Spent on Visa Cards

January 17, 2012

Strong growth in online shopping and debit card spending has resulted in a record year for Visa Europe as it announces its annual results which show that, for the first time, £1 in every £3 spent in the UK is now spent on a Visa card. Ecommerce spending accounted for 22% of all Visa spend in the UK, growing by more than 40% over the year. In the year ending 30th September 2011, debit spend on Visa cards topped £318 billion, a rise of 27% on the previous year. ,

Peter Ayliffe, Chief Executive, Visa Europe said: “In 2010, debit overtook cash for the first time and consumers’ appetite for using debit continued unabated in 2011, with spending on Visa debit cards up 27% and accounting for 90% of all Visa consumer card spend. Consumers’ preference for debit cards signals just how fundamentally important electronic payments are to the UK’s retail banking sector and the wider economy.

“We expect this growth in electronic payments to continue during 2012 when we will be launching mobile payments and our digital wallet services. These new products, that are a key part of our Future of Payments strategy, will revolutionize consumers’ everyday shopping experience to the extent that by 2020 we predict that over half of all Visa transactions will be on a mobile device”.

Visa Europe realizes the future of payments as it launches new mobile and digital services

Significant progress was made in payments innovation by Visa Europe in 2011 with around 20 million contactless cards issued in the UK and the first mobile payment services launched, with person-to-person payments and text alerts in October 2011. Strategic investments were also made by Visa Europe in Monetize and Beyond Analysis¹ to assist in its delivery of its Future of Payments strategy¹.

In 2012 Visa Europe expects the number of contactless cards to hit 30 million in the UK, and the first launches of mobile phones enabled to make point-of-sale transactions. Visa Europe will also launch its new ecommerce digital wallet service in the latter half of the year.

Consumers will get a unique opportunity to experience the future of payments for themselves at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games where Visa will showcase its payment innovations to a worldwide audience. For the first time, consumers will not need to use cash at the Games unless they choose to do so.

Chip and PIN drives fraud to an all time low

Fraud losses on Visa cards in the UK reached an all-time low in 2011, with the fraud to sales ratio falling by 23% to 0.05%. Much of this downward trend in the face-to-face environment can be attributed to the success of Chip and PIN (EMV) technology; 2011 marked five years since the full transfer to chip technology in the UK. The increased uptake of Verified by Visa by card issuers and merchants, together with real time risk scoring introduced into Visa Europe’s processing capability, are contributing to the reduction in ecommerce fraud.

Visa Europe – a European-wide success story

Visa Europe has replicated its UK success across Europe, with its annual results also showing that, operating as a low cost, not for profit membership association, Visa Europe’s reported total revenues for the year are more than one billion Euros. Following major investments to ensure delivery of Visa Europe’s ‘Future of Payments’, this produced a pre-tax surplus of €241 million. This sum was retained within the business to support capital and reserves which rose to €738 million.

Visa Europe processed nearly one billion transactions every month in 2011 across Europe, registering a 19% year-on-year growth as the number of processed transactions reached 11.8 billion. This growth in Visa’s European processing services has prompted investment in a new data center, to be located in the UK, which is twice the size of the current Visa Europe primary processing site. This expanded operation will support anticipated future increases in processing, including growth in ecommerce transactions and mobile payments.

About Visa Europe

In Europe, there are 445 million Visa debit, credit and commercial cards. In the 12 months ending September 2011 those cards were used to make purchases and cash withdrawals to the value of €1.7 trillion. 14% of consumer spending at point of sale in Europe is with a Visa card, and almost 80% of that is on Visa debit cards.

Visa Europe is owned and operated by more than 3,700 European member banks and was incorporated in July 2004. Visa Europe is independent of global Visa Inc., with an exclusive, irrevocable and perpetual license in Europe, while both companies operate to ensure global interoperability. As a dedicated European payment system Visa Europe is able to respond quickly to the specific market needs of European banks and their customers – cardholders and retailers – and to meet the European Commission’s objective to create a true internal market for payments.

Visa enjoys unsurpassed acceptance around the world. In addition, Visa/PLUS is one of the world’s largest global ATM networks, offering cash access in local currency in over 200 countries.

For more information, visit http://www.visaeurope.com/