Visa Bank card market grows

TALLINN (BNS) - Estonia remained one of the fastest growing markets for Visa world-wide, coming in second place in the third quarter of this year and breaking the 400,000 card level.

Estonia now has 400,395 Visa-branded cards in circulation, an increase of 136 percent over the figure for November 1998, the company reported. Cardholder expenditure on Visa-branded cards grew by 215 percent to $534 million over the past year.

According to the Bank of Estonia's data, commercial banks had issued 778,393 payment cards as of 30 September 1999. This gives Estonia a card density of 53.84 percent of the population.

Nearly one in three Estonians has a Visa card, and there is currently one ATM for every 2,916 people in Estonia - a better penetration of ATMs than in the UK, where there is one ATM for every 10,000 people, according to Visa. The acceptance network for Visa at point of sale terminals in Estonia currently stands at about 3,000 merchants and growing, with Visa working closely with its member banks to expand this acceptance network.

"The next step in the development of electronic payments in Estonia will be the introduction by our member banks of Visa Smart Cards in 2000," said Martin Bate, vice president at Visa International. "These cards will enhance the development of electronic commerce for our banks and their customers, as well as making everyday use of Visa cards at ATMs and stores even more convenient."

Kalle Tarien, Visa's manager in Estonia, confirmed that plans were already in place for the issuance of Visa Smart Cards in 2000: "We have completed intense discussions with our member banks, and agreed to the next steps in introducing smart cards in Estonia. Our members are currently upgrading their card acceptance network in preparation for the first issuance of smart cards next year."

Bate called the growth of the electronic payments market in Estonia and Visa's share in it "spectacular". He attributed it partially to the Scandinavian influence in the country.

"I think Estonians are culturally Scandinavians, and their Finnish neighbors have a reputation for advanced technology," said Bate. "There have also been lots of business contacts between Scandinavia and Estonia over the past few years, so culturally and mentally there was the readiness to embrace technology and doing things different ways."