News

Visa adds millionth ATM to network

September 28, 2005

FOSTER CITY, Calif. - The number of ATMs in the Visa global ATM network recently hit one million, a high mark that the company, according to a news release, will celebrate next month at an event in China.

Between March 2004 and March 2005, the number of ATMs accepting foreign Visa cards in China grew by 234 percent, from 10,092 to 33,706, with coverage spanning from major cities to the high plateaus of Tibet.

Visa cardholders from around the world are expected to spend U.S. $25 billion in mainland China over the next five years. That forecast is based on strong Visa cardholder-spending growth at merchant locations in China.

Visa now has ATMs available to cardholders in more than 160 countries. In early 1985, the Visa network included about 13,000 ATMs in six countries. By 1995, that number had increased to 254,000 ATMs in 90 countries. Today that figure has more than quadrupled.

Last year, the number of Visa/Plus ATM transactions surpassed one billion for the first time, representing more than U.S. $87.5 billion in cash withdrawals.