Asia-Pacific region embraces use of credit and debit cards
Across the region Credit Cards and Debit Cards have seen a surge in both applications and usage, in most Asian countries we see a cards becoming a status symbol, with millions of consumers putting credit card information into mobile wallets.
As Asia’s desire for credit cards and debit cards increase we see a shift in how consumers are thinking about spending. This is surprising considering as a region research shows that historically Asia has been very anti-debt and as a consequence the plastic card market has seen limited growth.
“In most Asian economies, savings rates are very high, and consumption is very low,” says Mark Zandi, Moody’s Economy.com chief economist. Governments want to stimulate consumer spending, and “this is a way to do it.”
In Asia-Pacific, card transactions — credit, debit, charge and other payment cards — surged 158% to $1.8 trillion from 2004 to 2009, approaching nearly a quarter of global card volume, says Euromonitor, a research firm.
As electronic payments start to catch on, they bring with them the promise of fast, efficient payments for customers and more revenue for local governments. They help reduce some of the underworld economy, in which cash transactions aren’t being recorded and thus taxed. Partly because of this, electronic payments have cumulatively added $1.1 trillion to global GDP from 2003 to 2008, says a study by Economy.com for Visa payment network.
To review and compare the latest Singapore credit cards visit Enjoycompare.com
Related information: Moodys economy fact sheet
