Credit, debit and prepaid card transactions for six major card networks shot up a combined 13.3% from 2015 to 2016, and purchase volume rose 5.8% to $20.606 trillion, according to new global data from card and payment industry publisher The Nilson Report.
Nilson found that Visa, Mastercard, Diners Club/Discover, American Express, China’s UnionPay and Japan’s JCB cards together rang up 257.17 billion purchase transactions in 2016 — a whopping 30.21 billion more than in 2015, according to the data.
UnionPay had the largest percentage increase in purchase transactions, growing by 32.0% in 2016, but Visa is still the king of plastic, according to the data. More than half of all card purchase transactions worldwide (54.06%) in 2016 used Visa cards — 34.82% were on Visa debit cards and 19.23% were on Visa credit cards.
“When consumers worldwide reach into their wallets for a payment card, more than half of the time, they use a Visa card,” The Nilson Report Publisher David Robertson said.
Behind Visa, Mastercard debit cards accounted for 13.30% of all purchase transactions, surpassing Mastercard credit cards, which accounted for 12.87% of all purchase transactions worldwide. China’s UnionPay credit and debit cards were involved in 7.59% and 7.32% of transactions, respectively. That outpaced American Express, JCB and Diners Club/Discover, which had 2.81%, 1.15% and 0.91% market shares, respectively.
About 11.15 billion credit, debit and prepaid cards were in circulation around the world at the end of 2016, about 9.4% than 2015. UnionPay accounted for 54.93% of those cards, followed by Visa with 27.68%, Mastercard with 14.97%, American Express with 0.99%, JCB with 0.93% and Diners Club/Discover with 0.51%.
The vast majority of the cards in circulation — 77.37% — were debit, which grew by 894.8 million in 2016. Visa purchase transactions were 64.42% debit in 2016, compared to 63.91% in 2015, according to Nilson. Mastercard purchase transactions were 50.82% debit, up from 49.99%. UnionPay purchase transactions were 49.08% debit, up from 46.90%.
More Americans embraced credit cards in 2016, however. Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover credit cards issued in the United States generated 47.95% of global credit card purchase volume last year, compared to 47.59% in 2015.
Here are some other statistics from the Nilson report:
• Cash advances and withdrawals increased by $425.81 billion in 2016. Visa accounted for 29.07% of total cash advances and withdrawals, Mastercard accounted for 27.20%, UnionPay accounted for 11.90% and Diners Club/Discover accounted for 7.60%. American Express accounted for 1.32%.
• Visa credit card purchase transactions increased by 2.81 billion inside the United States compared to a 1.17 billion increase outside the United States. The number of Mastercard credit card purchase transactions increased by 0.60 billion inside the United States compared to a 2.64 billion increase outside the United States.
• American Express credit card volume rose more for cards issued outside the United States (up 10.8%) than on those issued inside the United States (down 3.0%). Amex credit card purchase transactions increased by 0.27 billion outside the United States in 2016, compared to a 0.20 billion decline inside the United States, according to Nilson.
