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Visa sees only a single-digit rise in card consumption

With financial institutions tightening budgets on marketing to weather the consumer bad-loan storm, Visa International yesterday estimated that credit card consumption would record only single-digit growth this year.

Since the problem of spiraling outstanding debts from credit and cash-advance card usage started to surface in the latter half of last year, banks have gradually adjusted their operational strategies and spent less on marketing campaigns to encourage credit card usage, according to Christopher Clark, general manager of Visa International Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and the Philippines.

Some banks would have to focus on credit risk management this year, he said on the sidelines of a press conference in Taipei.

According to the Financial Supervisory Commission's statistics, credit and cash-advance card consumption last year reached NT$1.64 trillion (US$51 billion).

At a time when banks are turning more conservative in issuing the plastic currency, Visa yesterday launched a new wave of promotions to trumpet the advantages of its debit cards.

Purchases made using debit cards are deducted directly from the cardholders' account, saving them the trouble of waiting for bills and helping them better control their expenditures, said Marco Ma (麻少華), Visa International's country manager in Taiwan.

As of the end of last year, Visa had issued 2.8 million debit cards, up 56 percent from a year ago. Purchases made using debit cards last year totaled NT$5.6 billion, growing 73 percent year on year, Ma said.
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