Number of Payment Cards Grew by a Yearly 5.08% in H1 2018

According to the BDL ,the number of outstanding payment cards increased by a yearly 5.08% to 2.69M by June 2018. The number of cards held by resident recorded an increase by 4.86% to reach 2,59M by June 2018.

Debit cards remained the most preferred amongst cardholders, accounting for 58.74% of the total, as they were mainly destined for salaries’ domiciliation and daily use. The number of debit cards grew by a yearly 4.64% to stand at 1.58M by June 2018 , noting that the number of debit cards held by residents stood at 1.52M by June 2018. Credit cards ,  grasping 21.38% of the total and recording a yearly uptick of 0.74% to reach 575.109 cards by June 2018 of which 553,901 cards are held by residents .Over the same period, prepaid cards grasped a share of 15.97% of the total number with a total of 429.559 cards.

The progress of the cards’ retail market came in line with the 4.73% yearly increase in the number of ATMs that reached 1.928 by June 2018. Mount Lebanon saw the highest increase in the number of new ATMs (+10.65% y-o-y) to settle at 696 by June 2018, followed by Beirut (grasping 37.60% of the total) that witnessed a 2.69% yearly growth to reach 725 ATMs by June 2018. However, Bekaa and the North recorded a yearly downtick of 1.49% and 0.52% to stand at 132 and 191 ATMs by June 2018.

Total Number of Outstanding Payment Cards by June (in Millions)

Number of Payment Cards Grew by a Yearly 5.08% in H1 2018

Source: BDL

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *