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Global card payment volume tops 200B in 2013

A new study by RBR has found that the number of payments made by card worldwide grew 13 percent between 2012 and 2013.

October 13, 2014

A total of 205 billion card payments were made worldwide in 2013, an increase of 13 percent compared with 2012, according to “Global Payment Cards Data and Forecasts 2013–2019,” a new report from research and consulting firm RBR.

Growth in card payments exceeded the growth in card numbers (to 10.8 billion) by 2 percent, the study found. Continued rapid growth in card numbers in China has caused the share of that nation's UnionPay scheme to increase further.

RBR found a striking difference between regions in terms of card use. Consumers in North America and Western Europe use cards twice as much as those in any other region; these two regions account for 63 percent of global card payment volume, compared to 25 percent of cards.

By contrast, consumers in Asia-Pacific hold more than half of the world's cards but produce just 21 percent of card payments, with an average of eight payments per card per year.

Volumes per country in the region range from one payment per card per year in Vietnam to 126 in New Zealand.

The card base grew in China by 19 percent in 2013, increasing the UnionPay global card base by 3 percent to 38 percent.  Visa and MasterCard brands represent 24 percent and 18 percent of cards worldwide, respectively. Of 4.1 billion cards UnionPay cards, more than 99 percent are in China.

The introduction of regulations and alternative means of payment could influence the use of cards in certain markets, RBR said, but rising acceptance in both physical and virtual environments, as well as growing use of cards for low-value payments will drive up volumes further.

If average use per card worldwide were to reach the levels currently seen in North America and Western Europe, payment volume could reach half a trillion per year — even with no increase in card numbers, RBR said.