08.02.2012
Belarus seen as one of CIS leaders in cashless Visa payments
MINSK, 8 February (BelTA) - Belarus is one of the CIS leaders in terms of Visa International cashless payments, BelTA learnt from VISA country manager for Belarus Igor Kovalev.
According to Igor Kovalev, Belarusians are increasingly using Visa cards to pay for goods and services. “The figures speak for themselves: If we compare the data for the third quarter of 2011 and the same period of 2010, we see the steady growth of total turnover, which amounted to 19%. The growth of turnover in the retail network was even faster and reached 26%,” said Igor Kovalev. According to him, the most important figure for the company is the share of cashless payments in the retail industry. In Belarus it currently accounts for almost 15%. It is one of the best results in the CIS,” the expert said.
When analyzing last year’s results, Igor Kovalev noted that the company’s growth in Belarus is gaining momentum. “For the past year (if we compare Q3 2011 and Q3 2010) we see that the number of Visa cards issued by banks increased by 2%,” he said. There have been positive trends in infrastructure development: the number of points of reception of Visa cards, namely ATMs and POS terminals, rose by 31% last year.
One of 2011 highlights was the launch of Visa Infinite in Belarus (until recently there were only premium cards Visa Gold and Visa Platinum). Currently 18 Belarusian banks offer Visa premium products. The share of Visa premium cards is about 1% of all cards issued by the company in the country. Premium cards account for about 5% of the total cashless Visa payments.
According to Igor Kovalev, Belarusians are increasingly using Visa cards to pay for goods and services. “The figures speak for themselves: If we compare the data for the third quarter of 2011 and the same period of 2010, we see the steady growth of total turnover, which amounted to 19%. The growth of turnover in the retail network was even faster and reached 26%,” said Igor Kovalev. According to him, the most important figure for the company is the share of cashless payments in the retail industry. In Belarus it currently accounts for almost 15%. It is one of the best results in the CIS,” the expert said.
When analyzing last year’s results, Igor Kovalev noted that the company’s growth in Belarus is gaining momentum. “For the past year (if we compare Q3 2011 and Q3 2010) we see that the number of Visa cards issued by banks increased by 2%,” he said. There have been positive trends in infrastructure development: the number of points of reception of Visa cards, namely ATMs and POS terminals, rose by 31% last year.
One of 2011 highlights was the launch of Visa Infinite in Belarus (until recently there were only premium cards Visa Gold and Visa Platinum). Currently 18 Belarusian banks offer Visa premium products. The share of Visa premium cards is about 1% of all cards issued by the company in the country. Premium cards account for about 5% of the total cashless Visa payments.