Report: Contactless Card Payments Rise in Turkey (March 25, 2013)
Contactless payment cards are gaining a significant foothold in Turkey, passing the 10 million card milestone in 2012, according to a new report from the Interbank Card Center of Turkey (BKM). The pace of growth has been rapid, with the number of contactless prepaid, debit and credit cards expanding to 10.3 million in 2012, up from 3.4 million in 2010 and 6.3 million in 2011. Credit cards remain the dominant sector, accounting for 8.9 million contactless cards in 2012, or 16 percent of the country’s 54 million total credit cards. Contactless debit and prepaid, meanwhile, totaled 1.4 million cards.
And it’s not just the number of contactless cards that’s growing, but usage as well. The volume of transactions made with contactless debit cards grew to EUR13 million (US$16.75 million) in 2012, a 171 percent jump from the previous year. Meanwhile, contactless credit card volume in 2012 skyrocketed to EUR50 million (US$64.4 million), up 243 percent over 2011. The expansion of contactless POS acceptance in Turkey, which has increased to 61,000 terminals in 2012, from 18,000 in 2009, has significantly contributed to the growth of contactless transactions in the country.
Supermarket shopping has been the dominant retail sector for contactless in Turkey, accounting for 67 percent of the total volume of contactless purchases, according to the report. Dining took a distant second with 14 percent of all contactless payments. But mass transportation boasts the highest contactless payment percentage, with 46 percent of all transit payments comprised of contactless payments.
