Total cross-border card spend now ~139% of 2019 levels, an increase of 9% since Q1 2022 reports.
International card spend has continued to grow strongly as the world economy recovers from the pandemic. „Q2 Results from Visa & Mastercard illustrated persistent growth in international card spend across Travel & eCommerce,” according to Cambrist. As this important component of card programme income rebounds, Banks & Fintechs are looking towards the future of their propositions to ensure that they retain their share of the growth in International Card Spend.
Having recovered to pre-Covid levels in April 2022, international card spend, continues to exceed pre-Covid levels. Visa and Mastercard’s results highlight international card spend that is consistently rising as the global economy recovers from the pandemic. The North American and European markets continue to experience the fastest resurgence vs. pre-pandemic levels, driven by both the return of international travel, and growth in eCommerce.
Travel spend is the largest component of this recovery. Travel spend rose ~130% in the three months to June and is now at 118% of 2019 (pre-pandemic) spend. These growth rates are expected to continue for the next few quarters driven by the return of cross-border travel in Asia and increasing inbound US travel.
“There is a huge amount of interest in traveling to Europe and significant interest in Europeans traveling out of Europe. So, Europe has been also recovering very fast and is indexing at pretty high levels relative to pre-COVID volumes.” – Visa CFO.
In addition to travel spend, international eCommerce spend has remained robust, with the most recent report showing international eCommerce spend now at 181% of pre Covid-19 levels. These trends are expected to continue into 2023.
As cross-border transaction trends continue to grow through 2022 and into 2023, Card Issuers can benefit from the increased fee income generated as international card spend grows.
„As the US & European summers draw to a close, Fintechs and Banks should assess whether their card programmes have achieved their share of the recent growth in international card spend. Also they should identify future proposition/pricing developments that engage consumers to use the Issuer’s FX services over other providers, such as FX rate discounts, multi-currency wallets and greater transparency tools,” the company says.
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Cambrist is an award-winning technology company enabling payment card issuers & processors to better manage the foreign exchange requirements of their card programmes. Company’s proprietary SaaS platform and advanced data analytics, combined with its team of industry veterans & experts, supports customers around the globe.
Banking 4.0 – „how was the experience for you”
„So many people are coming here to Bucharest, people that I see and interact on linkedin and now I get the change to meet them in person. It was like being to the Football World Cup but this was the World Cup on linkedin in payments and open banking.”
Many more interesting quotes in the video below:
