Brazil Payment Card Market Update
With 687 million network-branded cards in circulation, Brazil is the world’s second largest payment card market. Growing rapidly, the market is experiencing major changes, according to Mercator Advisory Group. The acquiring market is seeing fundamental changes as exclusive acquiring agreements with the two major international card networks Visa and MasterCard come to an end, resulting in increasing competition and declining merchant discount rates. The retailer credit card market is also facing increasing competition from cobranded cards issued by banks in partnerships with retailers.
Mercator Advisory Group’s report, ‘Brazil Payment Cards Market Update’, offers an overview of the Brazilian credit, debit, and retailer card markets. It addresses the country’s consumer spending, credit markets, personal credit information system, major consumer credit bureaus, and the overall card acceptance market. The report examines developments in recent years and provides a brief survey of the major players in the Brazilian payment card market, including card networks, issuers, acquirers, and processors. Changes in industry dynamics are addressed including new acquirers in the market and the emergence of new card networks such as Elo (the evolving merchant acquiring market that developed after regulation ended card network acquiring exclusivity). The report also looks at the three major card segments in Brazil: credit cards, debit cards, and retailer cards.
“The Brazilian payments market enjoyed rapid growth in the past decade, benefiting from the booming economy and consumer credit market,” said Terry Xie, director of Mercator Advisory Group’s international advisory service on the report. “Growth has slowed a bit over the past two years, as the global economic downturn has finally taken its toll on the Brazilian market. The rising inflation and consumer debt level will likely force consumers to cut back their spending, which thrived on readily available credit, and banks need to protect themselves as well. We expect an adjustment in the market in the short term, but the long-term perspective of the Brazilian payments market remains very promising.”