Number of debit cards in Bulgaria has increased by 2.9 million

Visa, the company for card, contactless and mobile payments, is preparing to introduce in Bulgaria the possibility to send money over the phone. So-called P2P payments will require the user to have a smartphone and know the number or the bank account of the payee of the transfer. Such transfers may be effected both in the country and anywhere in the world and there will be such a possibility as early as this year, promised Krassimira Raycheva, Country Manager of Visa Europe for Bulgaria. She explained that a prerequisite for introducing new products and services on the domestic market is the reported increase in their demand.

Within the past year fiscal year (September 2011 - September 2012), payments effected with the 3,270,000 Visa cards issued in Bulgaria amounted to almost €1 bn, including €23 mln of payments for online shopping. The growth in the sphere of Internet trade exceeded 33%. Last year, an increasing number of people used their debit cards for POS terminal payments at stores or restaurants. The growth of this type of transactions is 35%. The number of debit cards in Bulgaria increased to 2.9 million and BGN 580 mln were spent through these.

Visa added that over €200 mln (18% of its total revenues) were invested last year and investments of around €300 mln are projected for 2013. Nikos Kabanoopulos, Vice President of Visa Europe, pointed out that one of the biggest investments last year was the construction of a new centre for data processing, which makes sure that 15,000 transactions can take place per second. Moreover, losses caused by fraud have been reduced thanks to the investments in security. Last year, losses amounted to €0.04 per €100 spent via Visa.

Прочети цялата новина

Свързани новини: