Press
releases _
Purchases with Cards climbed by 20.5% in 2004
Accounting for some 9% of Household Spending
Madrid, Spain – March,
2005 |
Purchases made with cards issued by members of ServiRed
(*) reached a total of 41,205 million
euros in 2004, representing a 20.5% increase in the year. This performance
was in line with the historic growth pattern, which was interrupted
in 2003 when the rate of increase fell to 16%. Contributing to the
rise during 2004 was the incorporation of two banks -Sabadell and
Zaragozano- into the ServiRed system. Purchases made
with their cards accounted for 2.5 points of the annual growth figure.
At the close of the year the number of cards issued by ServiRed
members stood at 32.7 million, representing an 11% increase in the
12-month period. At the end of 2004 ServiRed member banks had 367,074
point-of-sale terminals, and 28,232 ATMs.
The 15.96% increase of the number of card purchases lagged slightly
behind that of purchase volume, but this was because the average purchase
amount rose by 4% and average spending per card was up by 7.8%. Despite
the steady increase in the use of bank cards for purchases, such
purchases continue to represent only a small proportion of total
household spending in Spain, in comparison with that of other European
countries. In accordance with the figures published for the year
in this regard by Spain’s National Statistics Institute, ServiRed’s
market share of purchases with cards rose by one point in 2004 to
8.99%.
The year also brought a 40.8% increase in the number of purchases
made abroad by Spanish holders of ServiRed cards.
However, purchases made by foreigners through ServiRed
point-of-sale terminals in Spain grew by a feeble 9.8% in 2004.
Of purchases made abroad with ServiRed cards, the
largest total was registered in the United Kingdom, with 379 million
euros, representing a 44% increase in the year. Next came France,
with a total of 358 million euros, for an increase of 20%. The largest
growth of ServiRed card purchases abroad in 2004
was recorded in Ireland, where such purchase doubled to 66 million
euros. In the United States, in third place, holders of ServiRed
cards spent more than 227 million euros, 20% more than in 2003.
The United Kingdom also accounted for the largest volume of purchases
made by foreigners at Spanish merchants with ServiRed
point-of-sale terminals, although in 2004 the total declined 2%,
to 1,056 million euros. Next came the French, whose purchases in
ServiRed establishments increased by 6% to 704 million euros in
2004, followed by U.S. residents, with total purchases of 325 million
euros, up by 7.4% in the year.
Card Use at ATMs
In 2004 the cash withdrawals from ATMs made with ServiRed
cards grew in volume by 10.9% to more than 50,000 million euros.
The number of such withdrawals rose by 4.8% to nearly 500 million.
The average withdrawal amount was about 100 euros. The number of
withdrawals per card fell by 6.3%.
Within Spain, 83% of last year’s cash withdrawals with ServiRed
cards were made from the card-issuing institutions themselves, while
13.84% were made at other ServiRed ATMs and 3.16%
at ATMs belonging to other payments system operators. Cash withdrawals
made with ServiRed cards aboard accounted for just 1.02% of the
total.
(*) At the end of 2004 ServiRed
had a total of 103 members, including banks, savings and loan institutions,
and credit cooperatives.
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