Visa member banks in Moldova report increased number of issued cards

Visa member banks in Moldova have issued over 298,000 cards in 2006, a 68% increase against 2005. At the same time, the volume of operations and the amount of money spent using cards topped 182.6 mln, by 84% more compared with 2005. Visa card holders purchased goods and services in more then one thousand commercial and service-providing enterprises in Moldova. In 2006, 141 transactions per holder were registered in different commercial units, exceeding by almost 50% the results from 2005. On the whole, the amount of goods and services purchased using Visa is nearly USD 10 mln, or by 37% more than in 2005. Speaking about financial advantages, researches conducted by Visa have shown that operations with cash cost the state from 5 to 7% of the GDP, while electronic operations save nearly 1% of the GDP. Therefore cards have a great impact on monetary circulation, increasing its efficiency and attracting foreign investments. In social terms, the increasing popularity of such cards, leads to a bigger number of those who benefit from bank services, and also to the financial competence of the citizens. In consequence, our country is more likely to adjust to modern trends of a developing society, and the society itself becomes more mobile, and this eliminates every possible obstruction in the way of using electronic cards. Visa products currently generate more than USD 4 trillion in sales volume worldwide and are accepted at over 20 million locations including one million ATMs. According to the National Bank of Moldova, at the end of 2006 there were about 580 thousand of activated cards in Moldova. 12 of those 15 Moldovan banks do offer card services. All of those 12 operate within the MasterCard International system, 7 within the Visa International, and in the local system Unicard – 1 bank, and in MoldCardSystem – 2 banks.