The number of transactions using payment cards is on the rise in Poland Courtesy os Stock.Xchng/Lotushead

In 2008, Visa card payments grew in Poland at an annualized rate of 35 percent, one of the fastest paces worldwide. For the financial year ended September 2008, the number of cashless transactions conducted via Visa cards issued by Polish banks rose by 34.2 percent y/y, reaching 371 million. The value of payments went up by 35.2 percent y/y, amounting to €12.2 (zł.53.03) billion.

“We are happy with the rapid expansion of Visa cashless transactions. A growth rate of over 30 percent is truly impressive and reflects Poles’ increasing confidence in the convenient and safe way of payment for shopping offered by Visa cards,” commented Małgorzata O’Shaughnessy, general manager for Visa Europe in Poland.

Payment cards in Poland are still used primarily for withdrawing cash at ATMs. However, the number and value of cashless transactions via payment cards is on the rise – 23.3 percent of all Visa transactions in the last reporting year, compared with 17.9 percent three years ago. To popularize these transactions, Visa and selected banks in Poland launched a cash-back campaign last year.

Another major card payment operator, MasterCard Europe, posted a rise in the number of cards and transactions as well. In Poland there was a 19.3-percent increase in number of cards issued in Q3 2008 y/y. The value of transactions for all MasterCard programs (including Maestro and Cirrus) grew by 21.6 percent over the same period.

Both Visa and MasterCard are also working on promoting their “contactless” payment cards, which are equipped with an electronic chip. Visa payWave and MasterCard PayPass facilitate small, cashless transactions by simply waving a card close to a reader.