25 Banks Offer Card Operations Services

Out of the total of 30 commercial banks in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is the number recorded at the end of 2006, 25 banks offered card operations services and out of that number 19 had some form of international payment cards.

According to the data collected by the Payment System Department of the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CBBH), the total number of issued cards recorded on December 31, 2006, was 1.121.483 cards. Of that number, 124.128 were credit cards, 943.318 were debt cards and 54.037 were charge cards. Card operations in banks in Bosnia and Herzegovina are performed by use of the following foreign cards: Visa, MasterCard and Diners cards, as well as by the Bamcard, which is the domestic payment card.

More than 16, 8 million transactions were performed in 2006 in card operations, out of which 10, 8 million transactions were realized by the ATM, while around 6, 0 million transactions were realized by POS terminals.

Compared to the number of the issued cards during the last year, the average number of transactions per one card was 16, which is just over one transaction per card per month.

The total value of the stated transactions was KM 2, 3 billion. Of this value, only 15% was related to the payment of goods, while even 85% was related to cash withdrawal, either by ATM or by POS terminals. The average value of single transaction was only KM 137. The average annual turnover per one card was KM 2.100, 00, or KM 175 per month for one card.

There is the total of 538 ATM terminals and 11.448 POS installed in BH.

Out of the total number of banks in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 24 banks used E-banking. Even though almost all banks participate in E-banking, there was a relatively small number of clients which these transactions are performed for, 6.813 legal entities and 5.308 physical persons.

Public Relations Section
Coordinator
Zijada Kovač