Sizing the EMV Card Market in Latin America

Services

Market research, sizing and forecasting

Challenge

Our client, a consulting firm specialized in payments, was helping a client conduct a global study on the size of the Europay, Mastercard and Visa (EMV) card market and turned to Americas Market Intelligence (AMI) for support in Latin America. Banks throughout Latin America began the transition to EMV cards in the early 1990s, but no public data was available as to the state of the conversion process. The client commissioned AMI to identify the total EMV card market share by card type, estimated date of 100% EMV penetration and projections of new technology adoption, such as NFC cards and mobile devices.

Approach

AMI conducted secondary research to glean any information available from public sources. While some market size estimates were available, they needed to be verified by market experts. Next, AMI called upon contacts in the banking industry. Researchers conducted phone interviews in each market with card managers at major banks to verify or identify market size, growth rates, and opinions about future trends in payment card technology.

Result

AMI delivered a datapack, including the number of EMV cards in circulation for each card type in the three markets, the growth of both overall cards in circulation and EMV cards, and average card lifespan. The datapack also included commentary from bankers on the regulatory environment, growth drivers, and the future of EMV and NFC technology in the region. With this deliverable, the client completed its global study on EMV card growth and gained insight into how Latin America fits into the global landscape.

Client Benefit

AMI provided the client with EMV card market size and growth data for three Latin American markets as well as qualitative insights on the regulatory environment, future market developments and growth accelerators and constraints.