SINGAPORE - Visa Asia Pacific says Australia, Hong Kong and Thailand have joined Japan, South Korea and Malaysia in their number of deployed chip cards that meet the Europay, MasterCard, Visa (EMV) standard.
According to a news release, the three countries hit or exceeded the 1 million mark for EMV cards. Australia's EMV chip card base doubled between the September 2006 and December 2006 to reach more than 1.4 million; Hong Kong's base grew from 400,000 ards to more than 1 million during the same period; and Thailand's chip-card base experienced a 15-fold year-over-year increase to hit 1 million.
The growth represents a 46-percent year-over-year growth in EMV card deployment in the region, consistent with the annual chip-card growth over the last three years in Asia-Pacific.
"We now have more than 63 million EMV chip cards in the Asia-Pacific, representing 19 percent of Visa's card base," said Jack Pan, regional head of chip migration for Visa Asia Pacific. "Since Visa announced the move to EMV chip in late 2001, we have been working closely with our member banks to ensure successful deployment of local EMV-chip programs."
