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Visa Card POS Usage Surges in Latin America |
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Visa card usage at the point-of-sale in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) rose by 33 percent year-on-year to US$110 billion in 2006, says Visa International.The data covers all Visa-branded payment cards used in the LAC region.
Debit and prepaid card transactions were key drivers for the increase in the use of Visa cards at the point-of-sale in the LAC region, says Visa. The volume of debit and prepaid purchases at the POS in the region rose by 34 percent year-on-year to US$37 billion in 2006. The number of Visa debit and prepaid card transactions at POS terminals in the LAC region rose by 25 percent year-on-year to 1.4 billion at the end of 2006. Credit card purchases at POS terminals in the LAC region rose by 32 percent in 2006 to US$73 billion, Visa says. Visa sees the upturn in LAC card usage at the point of sale as a response to its strategy of promoting merchant acceptance and card usage for everyday purchases. It sees the penetration of supermarkets, fast food restaurants, healthcare and recurring payment as key to driving point-of-sale transactions in the LAC region. |
