Payments Industry Milestone Underscores Adoption of Payment Cards as a Tool for Managing Business Expenditures More Efficiently
SAN FRANCISCO--(AllPayCards)--Aug. 7, 2006--Visa USA today announced that, for the first time, small business spending on Visa Business cards (sales volume) in the United States surpassed $100 billion over a 12 month period.
For the four quarters ended June 30, 2006, small businesses made $103.5 billion in purchases with their Visa Business cards, representing a year over year growth rate of 32.2 percent. For the second quarter of calendar year 2006, small business spending on Visa Business cards totaled $28.9 billion, a 29.9 percent increase over the same period last year, as small businesses migrate from cash and checks to the security and convenience of electronic payments for business purchases.
Visa's small business category is leading the growth within Visa Commercial Solutions, and is one of the fastest growing product segments at Visa.
"Small business owners desire a secure, reliable payment solution which will empower them to better control and more efficiently manage their businesses. This milestone signifies that more small businesses are forgoing inefficient paper-based payment methods and increasingly recognizing the value of Visa Business cards for business purchases," said Raghav Lal, senior vice president of small business products, Visa USA.
Maximizing Value for Small Business Owners
Visa has designed a tailored suite of products and services to empower small business owners with choice and convenience. With Visa payment cards, small business owners can choose when and how they want to pay. Products include the Visa Business Credit Card, Visa Business Check Card, and Visa Business Line of Credit.
Visa Business cards offer added value for small business cardholders with services including automatic bill payment; promotions and savings through Visa Business Partner Advantage; the opportunity to earn rewards for everyday purchases through Visa Extras; and customized reporting solutions through Visa Information Source Select to better organize and track small business spending.
Opportunities for Growth
According to Visa's most recent Commercial Consumption Expenditure(TM) (CCE) Index analysis, small business spending grew 5.4 percent in 2005 to $4.7 trillion. Of that amount, only $300 billion is currently on plastic, presenting further opportunity to replace costly processes with more efficient electronic payments.
The CCE Index is a financial metric that standardizes how commercial spending is monitored and analyzed in the United States. CCE enables the financial industry to measure, analyze and forecast actual and future commercial expenditure trends, indicating continued growth opportunities for small business credit and debit cards.
About Visa Commercial Solutions
Visa offers small businesses, midsized companies, large corporations and government agencies trusted, reliable solutions that meet their many commercial payment needs - for virtually any purchase type, any situation or any business process. These capabilities help businesses and government agencies streamline operations, reduce overall costs and improve cash flow for better management of their payment processes. Visa's commercial solutions offer a great way for businesses and the public sector to pay and be paid. For more information about Visa's commercial business, please visit www.visa.com/commercial.
About Visa USA
Visa USA is the nation's leading payment brand and largest payment system, enabling banks to provide their consumers and business customers with a wide variety of payment alternatives tailored to meet their evolving needs. Visa USA is committed to increasing the choice, convenience, acceptance and security of Visa payments for all stakeholders in the payment system - members, cardholders and merchants. Through its 13,432 member financial institutions, more than 510 million Visa-branded cards have been issued to cardholders in the United States. Last year, U.S.-based financial institutions relied on Visa's processing system, VisaNet, to facilitate $1.6 trillion in transactions with unparalleled reliability.
Worldwide, cardholders in more than 150 countries carry more than 1 billion Visa-branded cards, accounting for more than $3 trillion in annual transaction volume.
Visa offers a trusted, reliable and convenient way to access and mobilize financial resources - anytime, anywhere, anyway.
Contacts
Visa USA
Jennifer Doidge, 415-932-2350
jdoidge@visa.com
www.visa.com
or
Fleishman Hillard
Mike Smith, 612-573-3105
smithm@fleishman.com
