Visa is expecting double-digit growth in China over the next five years, exploiting a market where plastic money is still a rarity and contributes less than 1 percent to the company's global business.
"This year we should be able to reach 70 to 80 percent growth," Albert Shiung, Visa's country manager for China, told Reuters in an interview on April 19. "I think double-digit growth for the next five years is not a problem," he said.
There were 8 million Visa credit cards in circulation in China at the end of last year and 2 million debit cards. The company has recorded triple-digit growth for three straight years following an easing of foreign exchange controls in mid-2003.
With China set to open its financial doors further to foreign competition at the end of 2006, Visa is confident Chinese will continue to wean themselves away from cash transactions and embrace credit cards. "The penetration rate is still very low in China. We have a lot of room to grow," said Shiung.
Visa, the world's largest payment network, has just over half of the 15 million credit cards that have been issued in China, but that is still a tiny fraction of the mainland's 1.3 billion population.