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SEPA impacts card markets in France, Spain

April 11, 2006

ePaynews:France is one of Europe's most mature card markets, and was the first to deploy chip cards on a wide scale. But as thesingle euro payments area (SEPA) progresses, dynamics will alter with the first entry of foreign issuers and co-branded cards into the market. France had about 51.2 million payment cards in circulation at end-2005, a 4.2 percent increase from 2004, with just less than 1.1 million POS terminals and 46,100 ATMs. French cardholders used their cards almost 6.3 billion times in 2005, spending €236.8 billion (U.S. $286.8 billion). Spain, on the other hand, has delayed its EMV migration plans until 2008, with an expected completion date of 2010, to coincide with the designated SEPA compliance deadline. By end-2006, more than 40 percent of Spain's POS terminals are expected to be EMV-compliant, although the country has one of the EU's lowest rates for payment card penetration and average transaction values.

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