The Al Rajhi Banking and investment Corporation announced the issuance of one and a half million Visa cards in Saudi Arabia. The milestone was passed in late 2001,less than two years after Al Rajhi announced the issuance of one million Visa cards, confirmed a press release.
The corporation offers its cardholders five types of Visa cards: Visa Platinum, Visa Gold, Visa Business, Visa Classic and Visa Electron. The first Al Rajhi Visa card was issued in 1995 and the most popular card is the Al Rajhi Visa Electron.
Al Rahjhi is the only member of Visa’s Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa region (CEME) to issue over one million Visa cards. It is also the region's third largest issuer, generating a total expenditure volume of $12 billion.
Since the launch of Saudi Arabia's first Visa card in 1985, card numbers have increased steadily and Saudi Arabia is now the Gulf's largest market. In the year ending September 31, 2002 the number of Visa cards issued in Saudi Arabia reached 2.1 million, with these cards generating $14 billion in expenditures.
Visa is the largest payment system worldwide. Visa-branded cards generate almost two trillion dollars in annual volume and are accepted at over 22 million locations around the world. Visa also generates revenues from Internet-based payments and is working to create universal commerce. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
