Banks to get virtual visa cards

Visa International is gearing up to spearhead internet banking in Poland.
By : Wioletta Buczek

   Visa International credit card company said that within the next two months one of Poland’s commercial banks will be ready to issue Visa virtual credit cards, enabling cardholders to carry out Internet transactions.

   “Currently we are implementing the software in five Polish banks,” said Margorzata O’Shaughnessy, director general of Visa International Poland. “One of them will be ready to offer e-cards within two months. The remaining banks will join the group by year’s end.”

   O’Shaughnessy declined, however, to reveal which banks will offer the virtual cards first.

   She also said that by 2002 the company estimates the number of Visa cards in Poland will increase to 7 million from the current 6.233 million, giving Poland the No. 8 position in Europe after Germany, and ahead of Scandinavian countries.

   According to Visa’s estimates, the total value of all April 2000-March 2001 Visa transactions conducted in Poland amounted to $10.3 billion. O’Shaughnessy said only 15% of all these transactions were non-cash transactions, i.e. electronic transactions. “In general, Poles use cards to withdraw cash, not for electronic transactions,” she added.

   In comparison, in other European countries such as Portugal or Spain some 40% of transactions are non-cash transactions. “I hope within the next two years the situation will change, and as more people get used to electronic payments they will use cards to pay for their shopping,” O’Shaughnessy said. She also said the company’s future is involved with universal transactions (U-transactions), i.e. transactions conducted via digital TV, telephone, or the Internet.