Visa: Acceptance for payment by card should be expanded

Credit card organisation Visa insists on the need to expand acceptance of payment by cards, especially with medium-sized merchants, transport companies, tax payment and in particular in smaller towns, given that over 80% of the transactions are still done at ATMs. At the end of last year, some 36,000 POS-es installed in shops accepted payment with Visa cards, while the ATM network stood at 6,000 machines. However, only 16% of the total number of transactions are payments made to retailers (through POS-es), with the rest being transactions made using cash dispensers, which usually entails cash withdrawal. In terms of amounts involved in transactions, the share of payments made to merchants is even smaller, standing at a figure of merely 9.5%. However, the situation can be explained by the use of cards for routine, smaller value payments. Under the circumstances, Visa officials include among the “challenges” faced by the local market, an increase in the segmentation of card products, through collaboration with banks, which should generate solutions even for authorities.