Payment Cards Reach 4.8Bn Worldwide

EMVCo has reported official figures showing a global increase in EMV payment cards of 1.4 billion last year.

At the end of 2015, there were 4.8 billion payment cards worldwide, compared with 3.4 billion at the end of 2014.

The EMV standards-setting body also has reported that, globally, 35.8 percent of all card-present transactions conducted in 2015 used EMV chip technology, up from 32 percent over 2014.

According to an EMVCo press release, these statistics highlight the increasing adoption of EMV chip cards in mature markets.

Year-over-year adoption rates are as follows: Europe Zone 1 — 84.3 percent, up from 83.5 percent; Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean — 71.7 percent, up from 59.5 percent; Africa and the Middle East — 61.2 percent, up from 50.5 percent; Europe Zone 2 — 52.3 percent, up from 40.4 percent; and Asia-Pacific — 32.7 percent, up from 25.4 percent.

In terms of the percentage of card present transactions using EMV chip cards, the rates were: Europe Zone 1 — 97.3 percent; Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean — 87.9 percent; Africa and the Middle East — 87.1 percent; Europe Zone 2 — 71.8 percent; and Asia Pacific — 40.3 percent (a nearly 50 percent increase over 2014).

The EMVCo release did not cite figures for the U.S., where EMV liability shifts did not come into play until October 2015.