“Visa is part of the everyday lives of millions of people in the Region. By working closely with our banks, we offer consumers and merchants the right mix of innovation, incentives and benefits,” said Eduardo Eraña, President of Visa International, Latin America and Caribbean Region. "Visa’s growth in Latin America and the Caribbean reflects rising demand by consumers and wider acceptance by merchants, as they recognize the efficiency, convenience and security that are synonymous with our brand.”
With more than 2.4 million acceptance locations in the Region, Visa LAC’s current strategy to increase merchant acceptance and card usage in everyday purchases played a key role for the company’s growth during 2006. The result was an upsurge in the number of Visa debit and prepaid transactions at POS in the Region, which increased 25 percent to a total of 1.4 billion at the close of 2006.
The usage and acceptance of Visa have grown as consumer and merchants are increasingly valuing the benefits of the Visa payment system including convenience, greater access, speed, financial control, security and reliability. Specifically, merchants are enjoying more sales, payment guarantee, better expense management and increased profits.
Visa’s penetration in key areas such as gas stations, supermarkets, fast food restaurants, healthcare and recurring payments have been key to drive point-of-sale transactions in the Region. In addition, Visa’s investments in new technologies, and its aggressive educational and marketing campaigns to promote daily usage, have been instrumental to increase demand by consumers and to reach non traditional segments.
“We are committed to bring the Visa experience into the mainstream, and deliver innovative payments platforms to enhance and streamline consumers and merchants' everyday activities,” added Eraña.
