• Revenues grew by 25% in Annual Report
• Visa Europe now accounts for more than €1 in every €5.70 spent in Europe

 

Visa Europe has announced its highest ever revenues of €2.31 billion - up 25% year-on-year (year-to-June 2015) during its first ever press conference organised in Malta. Costs have been held flat for a fourth successive year and the organisation has returned a record €739 million to its member-shareholders in the form of rebates and joint-investment initiatives.

Visa Europe now accounts for more than €1 in every €5.70 spent in Europe today, while the number of Visa cards issued in Europe now stands at 522 million - or more than one Visa card per adult. Point-of sale spending has risen by 7.7% in the last year (to €1.58 trillion).

Visa Europe CEO Nicholas Huss said: "Our new Annual Report shows that, financially, this was our most successful year ever - and by quite some distance. We've done that while maintaining always on delivery with 100% availability of our systems for more than 100 months in a row and maintaining trust in the system by keeping fraud at record low levels of less than 5c for every €100 spent (0.044% year to June 2015) and investing in multiple layers of cyber and data security.

Following such positive results and increased spending in European markets, Visa Europe has seen an opportunity in expanding their capacity to Malta, further showing their commitment and desire to invest in the market.

"Visa saw Malta as a perfect opportunity for growth and is directing all its efforts towards an overall strategy which will see an advance on all Visa core products and the use of innovation as a means of improving and facilitating services for both users and merchants. With Malta being a tourist mecca, we would like to take this opportunity to leverage on this touristic value to further displace cash and move the market to our innovative payment technology such as contactless. Contactless has been adapted positively in other European countries and will bring to Malta fresh benefits to both users and merchants, including speed, simplicity and security, three factors aligned with our overall strategy of being at the forefront of technology and innovation," said Catalin Cretu, General Manager - Croatia, Malta, Romania, Slovenia at Visa Europe.

The time is right for Visa to come together as one global company

Visa Inc. and Visa Europe announced in November a definitive agreement for Visa Inc. to acquire Visa Europe, creating a single global company. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close in Visa Inc.'s fiscal third quarter of 2016 (April-June).

Chairman Gary Hoffman said: "This deal will unlock significant value for members, both through the consideration paid and because the Board believes a combined Visa will be better positioned to serve the needs of customers going forward. We are also confident that Visa Inc. is committed to long-term investment and development of the European business."

Visa Europe CEO Nicolas Huss commented: "We are performing extremely well as Visa Europe. However, taking a long-term perspective and against a backdrop of a rapidly evolving landscape, increased globalisation, intensifying regulation and competition, there is no better time to come together as one company."

"The time is right because scale, speed to market and investment are critical to bringing competitive advantage. Integrating into one global business will ensure we have the financial strength and operational scale to accelerate the next generation of payments throughout Europe building deep partnerships with our existing and new clients. The deal will also give Europe a powerful voice on the global stage using our world-leading position to drive the future".

"These are very exciting times for Malta. We are giving our clients across Europe, including Malta, access to global scale, technologies, investment and resources. The accelerated development of electronic payments will shape the future of commerce, bringing tangible benefits to merchants enabling them to grow their businesses and to consumers by enabling them to pay where and when they choose, and on any device," concluded Catalin Cretu.