Jordan Times
Wednesday, November 25, 1998
Eight banks join to establish VISA Jordan Card Services
By Tareq Ayyoub
AMMAN — VISA International and eight Jordanian commercial banks Tuesday announced the
establishment of a new venture that will be responsible for VISA Card issuance in Jordan,
the first such firm in the Middle East.
The JD4 million VISA Jordan Card Services is aimed at expanding the use and acceptance of VISA credit cards in Jordan. VISA International says that at least 43,000 cards are in use in the Kingdom. The credit services was introduced here in 1991. It says also that 5,500 merchants accept the VISA card.
The consortium of Jordanian banks, which contributed 90 per cent of the company's capital, and VISA International will buy the Jordan Payment Services Company established in 1991 to issue VISA cards in the country. The new company will offer its services to all VISA cardholders in Jordan.
“The goal of VISA Jordan Card Services is to develop an acceptance infrastructure designed to encourage mass issuance and usage of payment cards, “said Anne Cobb, president and chief executive officer of VISA International.
It also aims at “building a common platform for the introduction of banking services based on new technologies such as chip cards,” Cobb said in a press statement distributed before the signing ceremony with the Jordanian partners.
“We want to make it easy for both Jordanian and foreign visitors to use their VISA cards to pay for all kinds of goods and services in the Kingdom,” she added.
The Jordanian banks in the new venture are: the Housing Bank, Arab Banking Corporation, Arab Jordan Investment Bank, Bank of Jordan, Jordan Investment and Finance Bank, Jordan Islamic Bank, Jordan Kuwait Bank and the Cairo Amman Bank.
Over the past year, the number of VISA Card users has increased by 63 per cent in Jordan; expectations are that this figure will increase dramatically as soon as the card starts to be issued by the new venture in early 1999, the statement said.
VISA International estimates that more than 2,798,000 members are using the VISA Card in the Middle East compared to 600 million worldwide. The number of merchants who accept VISA cards in the Middle East is 77,000, the firm says.
The more than 620 million VISA cards in use around the world generates over $1.2 trillion in annual income, it says.