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IS PLASTIC DISAPPEARING? the Cards International Prepaid Summit November 2015 Issue 525 www.cardsinternational.com IS PLASTIC DISAPPEARING? The Cards International Prepaid Summit • ANALYSIS: Card Fraud • INTERVIEW: ITRS • GUEST COMMENT: Peter Pop • COUNTRY REPORTS: Malaysia, China & Egypt CI Nov 525.indd 1 04/12/2015 14:40:17 Multichannel digital solutions for fi nancial services providers To fi nd out more about us please visit: www.intelligentenvironments.com Intelligent Environments is an international provider of innovative mobile and online solutions for fi nancial services providers. Our mission is to enable our clients to always stay close to their own customers. We do this through Interact®, our single software platform, which enables secure customer acquisition, engagement, transactions and servicing across any mobile and online channel and device. Today these are predominantly focused on smartphones, PCs and tablets. However Interact® will support other devices, if and when they become mainstream. We provide a more viable option to internally developed technology, enabling our clients with a fast route to market whilst providing the expertise to manage the complexity of multiple channels, devices and operating systems. Interact® is a continuously evolving technology that ensures our clients keep pace with the fast moving digital landscape. We are immensely proud of our achievements, in relation to our innovation, our thought leadership, our industrywide recognition, our demonstrable product differentiation, the diversity of our client base, and the calibre of our partners. For many years we have been the digital heart of a diverse range of fi nancial services providers including Atom Bank, Generali Wealth Management, HRG, Ikano Retail Finance, Lloyds Banking Group and Think Money Group. IE RBI final design.indd 1 17/09/2015 11:21:32 Cards International EDITOR’S LETTER CONTENTS EDITOR’S LETTER 3S: NEW DIGEST 6 FEATURE: CARDS INTERNATIONAL Well done the banks, card issuers, PREPAID SUMMIT EUROPE The annual Cards International payment processors et al Prepaid Summit Europe conference and awards, title sponsored by Visa Europe at the Principe di Savoia lack Friday is out of the way for another Competition between the two leading schemes is hotel, Milan. hosted a wealth of industry experts to discuss the pre- year without any mishap. fierce, with very little difference between Visa and paid market in Europe, followed by Just imagine the PR nightmare if the MasterCard in terms of card numbers. awards. Anna Milne writes weight of traffic had caused even a momen- With regard to payment value, however, Visa is 10 INTERVIEW: ITRS B by far the larger scheme, and gained a percentage tary blip on the busiest shopping day of the year. Anna Milne speaks to Guy Warren, CEO of ITRS, about monitoring in the E-commerce grew strongly in November despite point of value share in 2014, while MasterCard financial sector and the caution that modest overall spending during the month. lost a percentage point. companies must take to stay safe. In the UK, Household spending continued to Are firms doing enough? increase in November, according to the latest Visa Visa and MasterCard have almost the same share 11 ANALYSIS: CARD FRAUD Europe Consumer Spending Index data though of card numbers In the words of John Marsden, the annual rate of growth slowed from +2.1% in With 42.9% of payment cards in issue in Europe, identity and fraud expert at Equifax, ‘fraudsters always think of a way’. So October to a 21-month low of +1.1%. Visa is slightly ahead of MasterCard (42.6%). how can financial institutions stay According to Visa, channel data indicated a MasterCard’s share rose from 41.9% in 2013, as one step ahead? Patrick Brusnahan robust rise in e-commerce spending in November a result of a strong performance in a number of investigates (+4.1% on the year), as has been the case for just markets including Russia and Ukraine, as well as 12 REPORT: THE RISE OF CONTACTLESS over two years. Meanwhile, face-to-face spending the Nordic and Baltic countries, while Visa’s share Patrick Brusnahan reports on the fell modestly in November (-1.5%), after a slight remained largely unchanged. exponential rise of contactless payments in the United Kingdom. increase in October (+1.0%). RBR’s figures show that Visa is the larg - Can the solution keep up its Kevin Jenkins, UK & Ireland Managing Direc- est scheme in 19 countries in the region, while immense increase in usage? It tor Visa Europe said: “All eyes were on Black MasterCard is the largest in the remaining 14. certainly looks like that Friday but spending for November as a whole The other international schemes (American 13 ANALYSIS: EMV IN THE USA confirms the trends we saw at the tail end of the Express, Discover, JCB and UnionPay), account Agreed by the US card networks, month. Online spending surged, driven by dou- for less than 2% of the regional card base, the EMV liability shift began to be enforced on October 1, 2015. Who ble digit spend increases on the big weekend amid unchanged since 2013. wins thanks to this change in pace? continued appetite for mobile, laptop and tablet A significant, though declining, proportion of Is it the merchants, the consuemrs shopping.” cards are domestic bank card schemes or private or the card issuers? Are there any winners? Patrick Brusnahan writes Meantime, as CI goes to print, interesting stats label cards. come to hand courtesy of RBR. Visa accounts for 54% of card expenditure, 14 COUNTRY SURVEY: MALAYSIA MasterCard and Visa now account for 86% and holds a greater lead over MasterCard than 16 COUNTRY SURVEY: CHINA of all payment cards in Europe, as domestic and for card numbers. 18 COUNTRY SURVEY: EGYPT private label schemes continue their decline. RBR Payment cards are used frequently in several of 20 GUEST COMMENT: PETER POP reports that €9 out of €10 spent using a payment the markets where Visa cards are predominant, for Peter Pop looks at that constant topic of debate, Big Data. Is it still card in Europe was made on a Visa or Master- example France and the UK. something to be discussed or is it Card-branded card – the highest share of any Furthermore, Visa has a high share of debit now commonplace? region. cards in the region, which typically receive greater There were 1.5 billion payment cards in circu- usage than pay-later cards. lation in Europe at the end of 2014 which were Douglas Blakey used for payments worth €2.9trn during the year. [email protected] Editor: Douglas Blakey Sub-editor: Tom Langfield For more information on Timetric, visit Tel: +44 (0)20 7406 6523 our website at www.timetric.com. As a Director of Events: Ray Giddings Email: [email protected] subscriber, you are automatically entitled to Tel: +44 (0)203 096 2585 online access to Cards International. For more Financial News Publishing, 2012 Senior Reporter: Anna Milne Email: [email protected] information, please telephone +44 (0)20 Registered in the UK No 6931627 Tel: +44 (0)20 7406 6701 7406 6536 or email customer.services@ ISSN 0956-5558 Email: [email protected] Head of Subscriptions: Sharon Howley timetric.com Tel: +44 (0)20 3096 2636 London Office Unauthorised photocopying is illegal. The Reporter: Patrick Brusnahan Email: [email protected] 5th Floor, contents of this publication, either in whole or Tel: +44 (0)20 7406 6526 Farringdon Place, part, may not be reproduced, stored in a data Email: [email protected] Sales Executive: Alexander Koidis 20 Farringdon Road, retrieval system or transmitted by any form or Tel: +44 (0) 203 096 2586 London, EC1M 3AP means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, Asia Editorial: Xiao Ann Lim Email: [email protected] recording or otherwise, without the prior Tel: +65 6383 4688 Asia Office permission of the publishers Email: ann.lim @timetric.com.sg 1 Finlayson Green, #09-01 Customer Services: Singapore 049246 Group Publisher: Ameet Phadnis Tel: +44 (0) 20 3096 2636 Tel: +65 6383 4688 Tel: +44 (0)20 7406 6561 or +44 (0)20 3096 2622 Fax: +65 6383 5433 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] www.cardsinternational.com November 2015 y 1 CI Nov 525.indd 1 04/12/2015 14:40:19 NEWS: COMMENT Cards International Don’t write cash off just yet Calm down with all this digital currency talk and don’t make the mistake of writing off cash just yet, it’s still got plenty of fight in it.Alexander Atkins writes ecently I went for a haircut in a nice establishment that in the financial world. I had almost come to believe that cash was was very professional and well decorated with an upmar - already extinct. ket look. After a satisfying trim, I went to pay and upon Yet whilst I was standing there, handing over my crisp note, I pulling out my card, was told that they only accept cash. thought about paper currency’s supposedly fast diminishing role in R our society. To be honest, I was a little shocked. The impressive looking salon appeared the very place to have a card machine. Yes, I Not only do I recognise why many still use cash, but I understand made an assumption based on looks but most professional, up why cash is still a better option, be you a big or small business. It’s market services and retailers will have a card machine these simple, easy and, most importantly, it’s tangible. Concrete. Unlike days. card payments or even cheques (which feel almost obsolete them- It then hit me that I had not drawn cash in over two weeks! When I selves), its visible earnings.
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