RIYADH, 22 August — A growing trend of plastic cards taking over cash as the preferred means to pay for goods and services has been reported from Saudi Arabia, where total expenditure through Visa card transactions exceeded SR55 billion last year.
This amount was mainly used either as cash withdrawals for shopping or for purchasing goods and services via Visa cards, the world’s leading payment card.ì
"Saudi Arabia continues its growth pattern by recording a 26 percent increase in expenditure, while Visa card numbers rose by 25 percent to 2.2 million cards last year," said Peter Scriven, general manager of Visa in the Middle East. Scriven said that the total number of Visa cards distributed in Saudi Arabia has doubled since 1999, demonstrating the sophistication of the electronic payment industry and the increasing consumer preference .
He said that the Kingdom has traditionally been Visa’s biggest market among the Gulf states especially in terms of cardholder expenditure and number of cards.
An independent survey conducted recently indicated that 65 percent of Saudi Visa cardholders use their cards for personal/family shopping whereas 60 percent use these cards for personal travel and entertainment purposes.
On the growth of Visa business, Scriven said that the number of cards in Saudi Arabia rose by 25 percent last year compared to a year before. "Our direct presence in the market following the opening of Visa’s representative office in Riyadh has helped to foster closer relationships with our member banks and financial institutions," said the Visa official.
Referring to market conditions, the study said that still a small percentage of transactions in Saudi Arabia is done via cards. This is despite the fact that the number of plastic cards has been increasing consistently besides the number of merchants accepting the cards. "But acceptance and usage continue to increase rapidly as shoppers and shopkeepers realize the convenience and security of using cards rather than cash", he noted.
Scriven said that the Middle East region, especially the Gulf states, has greater potential in terms of growth. Banks in the Middle East, Central and Eastern Europe and Africa run the fastest-growing Visa businesses in the world. Over the last five years, they have consistently shown the highest percentage increases in card numbers, transaction numbers and sales volume.
He pointed out that the Visa card numbers in the Middle East rose by 31 percent to more than six million and spending went up by 24 percent to just under SR139 billion last year.
These impressive growth figures reveal the changing patterns of payment in a rapidly developing region and a real change in people’s lifestyles, said the Visa official, adding that the number of Visa transactions grew by 30 percent to more than 131 million in the region.
With global turnover in terms of cash and purchases through Visa cards exceeding trillions of riyals annually, a total of over 1.5 billion Visa cards are currently in circulation worldwide.
Hundreds of thousands of banks and financial institutions in different countries of the world are members of Visa International, which facilitates payment with plastic cards.
