European Payment Cards Yearbook

Bulgaria - Summary

	Price: £50.00
Market Overview
Payment Organization	BORICA (Bank Organisation for Payments Initiated by Cards) is the interbank processor and debit card authorization centre.

Domestic Card Brands	BORICA is the domestic debit card. BORICA cards are often co-badged Maestro for international use. RaiCARD is a domestic credit card issued by Raiffeisen Banka BG. TransCard is a domestic non-bank credit card, also co-badged MasterCard or JCB.

Market Structure	Most payments are made with cash; most electronic payments are credit transfers. Most bank cards are debit cards used for cash withdrawals. Card payments have grown 62.9 % during 2010 although the value decreased by 18%. The number of cards issued rose from 106,000 in 1998 to 8.1 million in 2008, when penetration per capita exceeded 1.0 for the first time. In 2010 cards issued fell to 7.6 million. The banking sector has been privatized and is more than 70% foreign-controlled. Four of the top 10 banks are owned by Greek bank groups.

Major Issuers	DSK Bank, UBBank, UniCredit Bulbank, CCB, Eurobank EFG.

Major Acquirers	UBBank, FIB, UniCredit Bulbank, DSK Bank, Raiffeisenbank.

Key Statistics 2010
Population	7.534 million
Cards	Debit: 6.6 million Credit: 1.0 million Total: 7.6 million