More Visa cards seen, but spending may level off
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The number of holders of Visa debit and credit cards is expected to increase by 10 per cent this year, but card spending might not grow as fast as last year.
Somboon Krobteeranon, Visa’s manager for Myanmar and Thailand, said yesterday that expansion of the Kingdom’s gross domestic product by 5.5 per cent would drive both card issuance and spending.
Spending last year was accentuated by flood-affected consumers, so it should return to a more normal pace this year, he said.
Spending through Visa cards last year surged by 21 per cent to Bt690 billion and the number of Visa cards rose by 14 per cent to 44 million, of which 35 million were debit cards and 9 million credit cards.
Spending is still mostly via credit cards at 92 per cent against only 8 per cent by debit cards.
The growth of Visa cards and spending relies on the growth of banks.
According to the World Bank, 27 per cent of the population or 15 million people hold no bank account. They are the target of banks for expanding transactions.
The challenge for Visa is to encourage people to use cards more instead of cash.
Thais need to be aware of the risk of holding money and shift to using plastic to charge their expenses, Somboon said.
In Myanmar, Visa is helping the central bank develop a merchant payment system to facilitate transactions of foreign visitors.
The country has only three local banks with 130 automated teller machines, and fewer than 100 merchants accept Visa cards.
