Visa payment volumes hit $800B

MANILA, Philippines - Visa Inc. has confirmed payments volume generated on all its cards across Asia Pacific reached $800 billion, an increase of 12 percent as of September 2010 over the same period last year versus the comparable period.

Significantly, the total number of actual payments transactions increased to 10.2 billion, up 11.4 percent from 12 months ago. This increase highlights the continued trend by consumers to use electronic forms of payments rather than cash and checks throughout the region.

Overall, across the Asia Pacific region, both Visa debit and credit products recorded strong growth throughout the year; payments volume for debit increased by 42.9 percent while credit increased by 9.7 percent.

The number of Visa debit cards increased by 15 percent for the year ending September 2010. This growth figure is a key indicator that more and more people are joining the formal banking system, a sign in turn of improved financial inclusion in developing economies.

Visa Inc. group executive Elizabeth Buse said that the figures reflect strong economic recovery across Asia Pacific as well as the continued shift by consumers from cash to electronic forms of payment, such as credit, debit and prepaid cards.

“Asia Pacific accounts for more than 50 percent of the world’s population and as such it continues to provide significant growth opportunities for Visa and our bank clients,” Buse said in a statement.

She added that Visa is well positioned to continue to capitalize and drive this growth opportunity. 

“Asia Pacific remains a key growth region for Visa and we are continuing to invest in new services such as money transfer, mobile payments and prepaid cards, in addition to our core credit and debit products,” Buse added.