European Payment (Debit) Cards

The July-August issue of European Card Review carries an interesting review by Richard Rolfe of the past and future growth of debit, or POS cards. The issue is important because debit cards are the most frequently used card in Europe. The dominant point of the excellent article is that consumers carry only one debit card for purchases at the point of sale. The annual rate of increase in the number of debit cards outstanding has dropped from 19.6 percent in 1999 to 6.5 percent in 2002. If the dollar volume of debit card purchases is to increase, cardholders must increase the average size of their annual purchases using their debit card, either by using them more frequently or by increasing the average size of their debit card purchases.