Portugal Country Report
- Published Date: March 2020
A comprehensive overview of the cards, payments and merchant acquirer market in Portugal, with clearsighted commentary backed by key market data.
With almost four in every five terminals now contactless-enabled, the Portuguese point-of-sale is ready for the shift to tap-and-pay, but consumer enthusiasm has been sluggish in taking the cue. The combination of payment cards popularity in Portugal and an extensive POS network has led to some two in every three euro of purchase value taking place by card; cash use is falling as a result, with Portuguese consumers already carrying less physical money than most of their peers in other European countries. Although debit cards dominate in Portugal, credit card outstandings have been growing healthily, as has profitability.
What you will learn from this Portugal payments industry report:
- How credit card profitability has fared through Portugal's economic recovery
- Where income is coming from as EU rules cap interchange
- Which innovations are gaining market traction in Portugal
- Why banks' multifunction cards strategy is changing
- How the Portuguese cards industry profit pool has evolved
PORTUGAL CARDS & PAYMENTS REPORT | KEY FACTS
- Electronic payments (including card payments, bank transfers and direct debit) are significant in the Portuguese market, representing an estimated 82 per cent of the total value of consumer payments in 2019.
- By contrast, the combined value of cash and cheques, as a proportion of total consumer payments in Portugal, has decreased from 27 per cent in 2013 to an estimated 18 per cent in 2019.
- Amongst EU countries, Portugal has one of the highest levels of payment card penetration per capita, with about 327 per 100 adults in 2019.
- With an estimated 96 per cent of combined credit and debit card purchase volume during 2019, debit cards are the dominant payment card at the POS.
- Millennium BCP is the leading institution in credit cards in issue, followed by Banco BNP Paribas Personal Finance.
- Visa is the leading scheme in the Portugal credit cards network market in terms of cards in issue, although Mastercard is not far behind.
- After reaching $8 pre-tax profit per credit card in 2013, profitability per card recovered to $28 in 2019 and is expected to reach $35 in 2022.
- This has been helped by the yearly increase, from 2013 on, inPortuguesecredit card outstandings, which reached about $3.4bn at the end of 2019.
- Smartphone penetration increased by almost 50 per cent between 2013 and 2019, playing a key role in the development of new payment methods.
- Portugal's economy enjoyed sustained growth between 2014 and 2019 with unemployment reaching 6.1 per cent, the lowest for 16 years.
Portugal Payments Industry Trends | Report Contents
Key Topics
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
Appendices: Cards Payments Data
Appendix I: Demographics and the economy
- Demographic and economic indicators
- Ownership of key consumer devices
- Internet usage by population
Appendix II: Payments environment
- Access points
- Account penetration
- Consumer payment trends
- B2C e-commerce payment methods
Appendix III: Cards market data
- Total cards payment metrics
- Contactless cards metrics
- Portuguese credit card data
- Total credit cards metrics
- Credit cards profitability indicators
- Debit cards numbers
- Debit cards metrics
- Prepaid/e-money cards metrics
Appendix IV: Mobile payments
- Mobile P2P payments
Appendix V: Profit pool
- Profit pool
Appendix VI: The card networks
- Networks' credit card market shares
- Networks' credit card numbers
- Networks' credit card billed volume
- Networks' number of credit card transactions
- Networks' average credit card transaction value
- Credit card interchange fees by network
- Networks' debit card market shares
- Networks' debit card numbers
- Networks' debit card billed volume
- Networks' number of debit card transactions
- Networks' average debit card transaction value
- Debit card interchange fees by network (signature debit cards: exempt)
- Debit card interchange fees by network (signature and PIN debit cards: regulated)
Appendix VII: Key retail banks and issuers
- Key credit card issuers market shares by credit card numbers
- Key issuers market shares in credit card outstandings
- Key debit card issuers market shares by debit card numbers
Appendix VIII: Acquiring and processing data
- Merchant acquirer credit card market share
- Credit card merchant service charges
- Merchant acquirer debit card market share
- Debit card merchant service charges
- Credit card issuer/issuing processor relationships
- Credit card acquirer/acquiring processor relationships
- Credit card issuing processor market shares by card numbers
- Credit card acquiring processor market shares by the number of POS transactions
Appendix IX: Online acquiring data
- Online merchant acquirer market share
Portugal Country Report | Selected Extracts
Demographics and Economy:
Portugal had 11.86 million mobile phone subscribers in December 2018, enabling mobile banking as a key delivery channel. It is estimated that mobile telephony reached a density of 118 per 100 inhabitants in 2019, of which 68 were smartphones.
Payments Environment:
Cards are consumers' preferred payment method, reaching about 65% of the total purchase value in 2019. This is the fruit of an extensive POS network and the 28.7 million credit and debit cards in issue.
Cards market:
There has been a growing preference for digital payment methods over the last decade, displacing cash and cheques. Payment cards are mainly used for payments at the POS, which saw about three-quarters of the total card billed volume and four-fifths of total card transactions in 2019.
Mobile Payments:
In December 2019, MB Way began to allow transactions with international mobile numbers as long as the associated account was from a Portuguese institution. MB Way surpassed the two-million-user mark that year and processed about 62 million transactions.
Profit Pool:
Broadly aligned with economic growth, credit card pre-tax profits reached an estimated $231 million in 2019. For 2020, VFR estimates an 8% increase on the back of higher net interest income.
Card Networks:
Visa has been the leading credit card network by cards in issue since 2014, although Mastercard is not far behind. The latter is the leading network by billed volume. All debit cards in Portugal operate on the SEPA-compliant Multibanco domestic debit scheme, although over 95 % of debit cards are network-branded.
Key Retail Banks and Issuers:
As of December 2019, the six largest issuers in Portugal jointly account for 60% of total credit cards in issue and 84% of total outstandings. Portugal's highly competitive credit cards market means that no significant new issuers are expected to enter the market soon.
Acquiring and Processing:
With over 372,000 EMV-compliant POS terminals in 2019, Portugal has a well-developed acceptance network for payment cards.
Online Acquiring:
Online shopping has increased in relative importance over the past decade. However, when compared to card payments at the POS and ATM, online shopping represents a significant opportunity for growth.
Regulatory and Markets Information:
In Portugal, only credit institutions or credit card companies are authorised to issue credit cards. EU caps, introduced in 2015, limit the interchange fee for credit cards to 0.3% for credit cards and 0.2% for debit cards
Portugal Payments Trends | Entities Referenced
2CheckOut
ACEPI
ActivoBank
AdC
AirRefund
American Express
Auchan
Auchan Pet
Auchan Supermercado
Banco Agricola
Banco Best
Banco BNP Paribas Personal Finance
Banco BPI
Banco CTT
Banco de Credito ao Consumo
Banco de Portugal
Banco Espirito Santo
Banco Popular
Banco Portugues de Investimento
Banco Portugues de Negocios
Banco Santander
Banco Santander Portugal
Banco Santander Totta
Banco Totta & Acores
Bancopopular-e
Banif
BankAmericard
Bankinter
Barclaycard
Barclays
Benfica
BES
BPI
BPN
Cabify
Caetano Retail
Caixa Geral de Depósitos
Cartao Oney Auchan
Carte Blanche
Cetelem
CGD
Cofidis
Comercia Global Payments
Conforama
Continente
Credibom
Credifin
Credito Agricola
Credito Predial Portugues
Decathlon
DECO
Diners Club
Discover
Dun & Bradstreet
EasyPay.
ECB
Elo
euPago
EuroBic
Evo Payments
Experian
FNAC
Fosun International
GALP
Galp
IfThenPay
Instituto Informador Comercial
Interbank
JCB
JOM
Lone Star
Lufthansa
Mastercard
MB NET
MB Way
McDonald's
Media Markt
Miles&Go
Millennium BCP
Monese
Moviflor
Multibanco
Multibanco Reference
My Auchan
N26
NetCaixa
NetPay
NOS cinemas
Novo Banco
Oney
Online Auchan
Oticas Auchan
PayPal
Porto
Redunicre
Referências Multibanco
Revolut
Saude e Bem-Estar
SIBS
SICOI
Skrill
Sociedade Interbancária de Serviços
Sonae
Sporting
Stripe
TAP
Tecnologia Auchan
Tecnologia Online
Totta
Uber
Unapor
Uni.Mark
Unicre
UnionPay
Varde Partners
Via Verde
Visa
WiZink Bank
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