Australia - Electronic Purses (Smart Cards)

Synopsis

So-called smart cards come in a variety of forms and for a range of purposes, from stored value cards and payment vehicles, through loyalty cards issued by retailers, up to multi-purpose cards. The electronic magnetic strip has been the mainstay of smart cards, though there are increasing moves to cards with higher capacity microchips. This report looks at the global scenario and influence of Visa and Mastercard, as well as the Australian market place for credit/debit cards and a gradual shift to all-in-one cards. Credit card reform is topical in 2002 with the Reserve Banks move on the sector, while Telstra has repositioned itself out of loyalty cards with the aim of moving into credit card service provision.

Table of Contents

• 1. Synopsis
• 2. Stored-value smart cards
  • 2.1 The Visa – Mastercard battle
  • 2.2 Slow progress during the 1990s
  • 2.3 Industry need to address key issues
  • 2.4 Smartcards missed their window of opportunity
  • 2.5 A common platform?
  • 2.6 Still little progress in 2003
• 3. Credit card market statistics
• 4. From credit card to smart card
• 5. Users want all-in-one-smart card
• 6. Amex Blue
• 7. ANZ MultiPOS
• 8. Smart loyalty cards
  • 8.1 Dominated by Telstra
    • 8.1.1 Telstra and Visa
    • 8.1.2 Telstra leaves the market in 2002
  • 8.2 Overview of loyality card initiatives
  • 8.3 Market statistics
  • Table 1 – Market share credit cards in Australia – 1998; 2000; 2001
  • Table 2 – Credit card purchases – 1995-2001
  • Table 3 – Potential global smartcard market sizes – 1994, 2000
  • Exhibit 1 – The credit card giants