Electronic payments in Belgium: 2008 in facts and figures

With a growth of the number of electronic payments processed by its systems and a double transaction record, Atos Worldline has shown in 2008 once again its reliability and its high performance.

An overview of the figures

In all, Atos Worldline processed 1,175,784,600 transactions in Belgium, an increase of 4.9% compared to 2007. The majority of these transactions are debit card transactions such as Bancontact/Mister Cash. 837 million purchases were paid in this way in 2008 (+7.9% compared to 2007). Particularly cross-border payments by Belgians abroad or foreigners in Belgium showed a huge increase of 25%. The number of cash withdrawals was more or less stable at 107 million (+0.6%). 

A smaller number of transactions (123 million) was made with credit cards. However, for some years these transactions have shown the strongest growth figures, i.e. +8.6% compared to 2007. We noticed a drop in the average amounts of payments and money withdrawals with credit cards over the last months of 2008. This can be explained in part by the fact that more often credit cards are being used for everyday, less expensive purchases. Is the economic crisis to blame as well?

Finally, Proton transactions dropped further to 94 million (-9.2%). However, these transactions are largely compensated by the growth of Bancontact/Mister Cash transactions for smaller amounts. Proton still has a loyal following: in 2008, 1.5 million cards were still active.

Mother's day sets a new (and double) transaction record

2008 was also good for a double record on 10 May, the day before Mother's day. On this day a record number of 4,373,924 transactions was processed. The speed record was also broken. At 11.41 our systems processed 9,340 transactions in one minute.

Card Stop

Last year, Card Stop has helped out a large number of cardholders. Over the past year, as many as 697,000 calls were registered, which is 4.18% more than in 2007. 904,618 cards were blocked in 2008. This concerned not only stolen cards (approximately 170,000), but mostly (temporarily) misplaced cards (about 560,000 cards). And about 62,000 cards were blocked by Atos Worldline as a precaution or in reaction to fraud.

Banksys terminals convince merchants worldwide

Our international terminal sales increased by another 30% in 2008. A number of countries really stood out. 2008 was an exceptional year for the Dutch market. We managed to double the number of Banksys terminals sold compared to 2007. This brings us to a total of 70,000 terminals and makes us market leader in the Netherlands as well. France also showed great progress thanks to an excellent collaboration on group level.

In Belgium, our super-fast XENTA SSL terminals (Secure Sockets Layer, a protocol for the secured transfer of personal data over the Internet or via GPRS) were very successful. The number of SSL transactions has more than doubled in 2008 (218 million) and represent today one transaction out of seven.

The success story of Epargnez et Cueillez

Epargnez et Cueillez, our loyalty programme for credit card holders, has outgrown its infancy after less than four years. 54,460 new registrations have raised the total number of registered cardholders to 464,664. In 2008 they collected more than 16 million points, which in turn is good for 3.5 million sent cheques. 40% of these cheques were effectively used at our 44 commercial partners. Through this simple programme, Atos Worldline wants to help merchants and banks stimulate card use.

The annual growth of our transaction figures is undoubtedly supported by our reliable electronic payment terminals. And we are also encouraging the use of all payment cards, the guarantee of safe and effective payments, in particular through our Epargnez et Cueillez programme. In 2009 Atos Worldline will continue to work on a cash-poor society.