Smart Card & Identity News A New Flavour for eCash

Card payment value in CEE surpasses EUR 110 billion
The volume of card payments grew at a much quicker rate than the number of cards between 2008 and 2010 –
49% compared to 10%. Once again, Russia was responsible for the largest share of growth in the volume of
payments, but Poland also made a significant contribution. Polish cardholders are becoming increasingly
confident about using cards, while the acceptance network has also been growing.
A total of EUR 111 billion was spent on cards in the CEE region in 2010, up from EUR 90 billion in 2008. For
a number of years, Slovenia has had by far the highest average card spending per adult, followed by Estonia.
Bank account holding is extremely prevalent among Slovenian adults and salaries are rarely paid by any means
other than credit transfer. Furthermore, Slovenia’s infrastructure is advanced, with most outlets accepting cards,
and the pay later sector (specifically charge cards) is better established in Slovenia than in most other countries in
the region.
Over 90% of EFTPOS terminals are EMV-compliant
There has been considerable growth in acceptance networks throughout CEE. Even more developed markets
such as Poland, where certain merchant sectors (e.g. petrol stations and supermarkets) are approaching
saturation, have seen considerable growth. There remain many markets where there is room for further
advances, even under existing pricing and acquiring conditions.
The number of EFTPOS terminals grew considerably between 2008 and 2010 – by 20% to 1.3 million. The vast
majority of units are in Russia and Poland. These two countries account for 680,000 terminals, while no other
country has more than 100,000. Russia accounted for the largest share of new installations, while the Czech
Republic, Hungary and Kazakhstan also witnessed significant growth.
When the number of terminals is compared to the size of the population, Croatia, Estonia and Slovenia are the
largest markets. The first two were also the only markets in the region with less than 100 payment cards per
EFTPOS terminal, compared with the CEE average of 224. Kazakhstan, Russia and the Ukraine hold vast
potential for the deployment of new terminals as the ratio is well over 300 in each of these markets.
CEE banks have generally made more progress in upgrading EFTPOS terminals than in reissuing cards. Overall,
the most advanced countries are the Baltic markets (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), and the Czech Republic.
Some countries, such as Russia and the Ukraine, continue to lag behind.
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Smart Card & Identity News • March 2012