Annual volumes of smart payment and banking cards shipped are forecast to increase from 1.1 billion in 2011 to 3.5 billion in 2017.

Donald Tait, Senior Market Analyst, IMS Research (IHS Inc.)

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Annual volumes of smart payment and banking cards shipped are forecast to increase from 1.1 billion in 2011 to 3.5 billion in 2017. This is one of the leading conclusions from IMS Research’s (recently acquired by IHS Inc.) just-published report The World Market for Payment and Banking Cards – 2012 Edition.

“In terms of volumes, the payment and banking card market is the second-largest smart card market and this is forecast to continue to be the case over the next five years,” stated Don Tait, senior analyst at IMS Research’s Financial and ID Technology Group and the report’s author. “That being said, the proportional importance of specific geographical markets is forecast to change during this time.

“The proportional importance of China for smart payment and banking cards is projected to increase significantly over the next five years,” Tait continued. “The People’s Bank of China announcement in March 2011 to convert China’s debit and credit payment cards to smart cards is projected to significantly influence market development. All financial institutions in China must be ready to issue financial smart cards by January 1, 2013. By 2015, all new cards in issuance will be smart-card based. This will have a significant impact on the number of smart payment and banking cards shipped in China from 2013 to 2016. In 2016, the number of smart payment and banking cards shipped in China is projected to increase to 1.3 billion (or two-fifths of total world shipments).”

Tait added: “The U.S. market for smart payment and banking cards is projected to show good growth during the next five years. The U.S. is the world’s second-largest market for payment and banking cards (magnetic stripe as well as smart cards) by volume. It is also the world’s largest market in terms of card expenditure. Until recently, the U.S. was the only mature country to have not committed to EMV migration. However, the announcements by Visa Inc., in August 2011 and MasterCard in January 2012 will help to kick start EMV migration in the U.S. Furthermore, at the end of last month, American Express also announced its network roadmap to advance EMV chip-based contact, contactless and mobile payments for all merchants, processors and issuers of American Express-branded cards in the U.S. The installed base of smart payment and banking cards in the U.S. is projected to increase to 935 million by the end of 2017.”