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Portugal Cards & Payments Market Report
- Published Date: August 2022
PORTUGAL CARDS & PAYMENTS MARKET REPORT
A comprehensive overview of Portugal's cards, payments and consumer banking market, with clearsighted commentary backed by relevant data. Cards and payment market news, analysis and commentary on trends and developments in Portugal's payments, fintech, credit card and online payments industry.
Credit card profitability is recovering strongly from a lean period and is well placed to continue delivering for the coming three years, a situation currently favouring incumbent issuers but drawing in fintechs and neobank challengers.
Through the extensive range of consumer credit products on offer, consumers here are knowledgeable and thus open to well-crafted propositions, especially on the digital side.
What you will learn from this Portugal report:
How online purchasing is changing.
Why Portuguese credit cards are increasingly used.
What SIBS' hit app has meant for mobile payments.
Credit card profitability forecasts.
How smartphones are boosting online purchases.
The rise in contactless transactions.
PORTUGAL CARDS AND PAYMENTS REPORT | KEY FACTS
- Portugal's economy grew in 2021 following a deep recession in 2020 triggered by the pandemic. However, the crisis will probably increase poverty and inequality.
- Electronic payments, including card payments, bank transfers and direct debit, represent 83 per cent of total consumer payments' value, with cash's share falling to 16 per cent in 2021 from 19 per cent two years before.
- Wholly owned by 22 banks, SIBS plays a central role in the country's payments system. It operates the domestic Multibanco cards network and carries out payment processing for the banks.
- SIBS also offers MB Way, which boasts over three million users. The app supports several payment types, including online purchases, P2P transfers and NFC payments.
- With almost three payment cards per adult in 2021, Portugal is one of the highest issuers of payment cards in the European Union.
- Debit cards maintained their dominance in 2021 with 215 cards per 100 adults and nearly 97 per cent of total billed volume.
- Online card purchase volume was a third of the total value of card purchase transactions during 2021, compared to a quarter five years before.
- Although credit card ownership is relatively high, spending per card is low by European standards, at just $586 in 2021.
- Banco Millennium BCP is the leading institution for credit cards in issue, followed by Santander Totta.
Portugal Payments Research | Report Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Demographics and the economy.
Payments environment.
Cards market.
Mobile payments.
Profit pool.
The networks.
Key retail banks and issuers.
Acquiring and processing.
Online acquiring.
Regulatory and other cards market information.
Portugal Country Report Data Tables
(All 2016-25F unless otherwise stated)
1: Demographic and economic indicators.
2: Ownership of key consumer devices.
3: Internet usage by population.
4: Access points: 2016-23F.
5: Account penetration.
6: Consumer payment trends: 2016-23F.
7: B2C e-commerce payment methods: 2016-23F.
8: Total card payment metrics.
9: Contactless card metrics.
10: Credit card numbers.
11: Total credit cards metrics.
12: Credit card profitability indicators.
13: Debit card numbers.
14: Debit card metrics.
15: Prepaid/e-money cards metrics.
16: Profit pool: credit card numbers, billed volumes, outstandings, interest incomes, net interest revenues, merchant revenues, card fee revenues, other non-interest incomes, total revenues, net credit losses, operating expenses, total expenses, pre-tax profits, merchant service charges, rollover rates, APR, net credit losses to outstandings, operating costs to revenues, ROA (pre-tax profits to outstandings).
(All 2016-23F unless otherwise stated)
17: Networks' credit card market shares.
18: Networks' credit card numbers.
19: Networks' credit card billed volume.
20: Networks' number of credit card transactions.
21: Networks' average credit card transaction value.
22: Credit card interchange fees by network.
23: Networks' debit card market shares.
24: Networks' debit card numbers.
25: Networks' debit card billed volume.
26: Networks' number of debit card transactions.
27: Networks' average debit card transaction value.
28: Debit card interchange fees by network.
29: Key credit card issuers market shares by credit card numbers: 2018-23F.
30: Key issuers market shares in credit card outstandings: 2018-23F.
31: Key debit card issuers market shares by debit card numbers: 2018-23F.
32: Merchant acquirer credit card market share: 2022E.
33: Credit card merchant service charges: 2016-25F.
34: Merchant acquirer debit card market share: 2022E.
35: Debit card merchant service charges: 2016-25F.
36: Credit card issuer/issuing processor relationships: -
37: Credit card acquirer/acquiring processor relationships: -
38: Credit card issuing processor market shares by card numbers: 2022E.
39: Credit card acquiring processor market shares by the number of POS transactions: 2022E.
40: Online merchant acquirer market share: 2022E.
Portugal Country Report | Selected Extracts
Demographics and Economy
The population of Portugal has been gradually decreasing since 2008, with the economic impact mitigated by an influx of immigrants who, in 2020, represented about 6.4% of the population.
Payments Environment
Portugal's retail payment network is supported by an interbank-clearing system called SICOI (Sistema de Compensacao Interbancaria), which is managed by the central bank.
Cards market
Payment cards are mainly used for purchases, representing about 79% of total card billed volume and 86% of total card transactions in 2021. Argus Advisory Research (AAR) forecasts that these proportions will continue to increase slightly.
Mobile Payments
MB WAY is a mobile app provided by SIBS that comes with multiple core functions ... In 2021, the app surpassed the 3.8 million users mark and processed about 225 million transactions.
Profit Pool
Credit card profitability has recovered strongly over the research period, reaching an estimated $250 million in pre-tax profits in 2021 despite the pandemic's ongoing impacts on the economy.
Card Networks
Visa is the dominant credit card network in terms of cards in issue. During 2019, it increased its billed volume market share by four percentage points. All debit cards in Portugal operate on the Multibanco domestic debit scheme, although over 95% of debit cards are network-branded.
Key Retail Banks and Issuers
The six largest issuers in Portugal jointly account for 66 % of total credit cards in issue and 88 % of total outstandings, as of December 2021. The country's highly competitive credit cards market means that no significant new issuers are expected to enter the market soon.
Acquiring and Processing
With over 432,000 EMV-compliant POS terminals in 2021, Portugal has a well-developed payment card acceptance network. Issuing processing in the Portuguese credit card market is predominantly undertaken in-house.
Online Acquiring
Online shopping has been steadily growing more important, though falling short of its potential until the pandemic boosted volumes. For 2021, total online billed volume reached around 32% of total card purchase volume and 29% of purchase transactions.
Regulatory and Markets Information
Although the central bank, financial institutions, third-party payment providers and fintechs have actively contributed to the implementation of PSD2, it is not fully implemented in Portugal.
Portugal Payments Report | Entities Referenced
2CheckOut
ActivoBank
AdC
Afterpay
American Express
Apple Pay
Auchan
Banco Best
Banco BNP Paribas Personal Finance
Banco BPI
Banco CTT
Banco de Portugal
Banco Espiritu Santo
Banco Português de Negócios
Banco Santander Portugal
Banco Santander Totta
Banco Totta & Açores
Bancopopular-e
Banif
BankAmericard
Bankinter
Barclaycard
BdP
Benfica
BES
BNP Paribas
BNP Paribas Personal Finance
Box
BPI
BPN
Bunq
Caetano Retail
Caixa Geral de Depósitos
CaixaBank
Cart£o Internacional de Crédito
Carte Blanche
Cetelem
CGD
Citi
Clearpay
Cofidis
Conforama
Continente
Credibom
Credifin
Credit Agricole Group
Crédito Agrícola
Crédito Predial Português
CTT
Curve
Decathlon
Diners Club
Discover
Dun & Bradstreet
EasyPay
ECB
El Corte Inglés
EU
euPago
EuroBic
European Central Bank
European Commission
Experian
FC Porto
FNAC
Fosun International,
Global Payments
Global Payments MoneyToPay
Glovo
Google Pay
IfThenPay
Ikea
IMF
Instant Credit Transfer
Instituto Informador Comercial
International Monetary Fund
JCB
JOM
Jumbo
Klarna
Lone Star
Lufthansa
Lydia
Mastercard
MB NET
MB WAY
McDonald's
Media Markt
Miles&Go
Millennium BCP
Monese
Moviflor
Multibanco
My Auchan
N26
NetCaixa
NetPay
Novo Banco
Oney
Online Auchan
"ticas Auchan
Pagantis
PaGo
PayPal
Portuguese Competition Authority
RedUNIQ
Referências Multibanco
Revolut
Saúde e Bem Estar
SFS
SIBS
SICOI
Sistema de Compensaç£o Interbancária
Skrill
SL Benfica
Sociedade Interbancaria de Serviços
Sonae Financial Services
Sport Zone
Stripe
TAP
Tecnologia Online
Tink
Unibanco
UNICRE
UnionPay
Värde Partners
Via Verde
Visa
Viva Wallet
Wise
WiZink
Worten
MORE EUROPE PAYMENTS REPORTS
Argus Advisory Research reports deliver invaluable market and competitor intelligence on payments cards, e-money, acquiring/processing, retail banking, and consumer credit. Analysts and researchers use both primary and secondary source data and conduct in-depth interviews with senior industry executives and local experts.
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