Ayodele Aminu
6 June 2005
Lagos — Visa International, the world's leading electronic payment company has given Nigeria a clean bill of health, saying no incident of fraud has been recorded since it commenced issuance of cards in the country a couple of months ago.
Vice President, Risk Management, Africa, Visa International, Mr. Neil Hawkey made this known in Johannesburg, South Africa at the weekend during a chat with some African journalists.
"There has been no fraud record of any Visa card issued in Nigeria and I think this is a very good development," he said.
Standard Chartered Bank is the only bank that issues Visa Electron (international debit card) in Nigeria. Two other banks, namely Ecobank Nigeria Plc and Standard Trust Bank Plc also issue Mastercard.
Hawkey however, noted that Mozambique topped the list in Africa acquired fraud losses in selected countries during the fourth quarter of 2004 in the Central Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMEA), with 1.25 per cent fraud to sales losses, followed by Algeria (0.57 per cent), Morocco (0.39 per cent), Cote D'lvoire (0.24 per cent), Tunisia (O.17 per cent), Egypt (0.16 per cent) and South Africa (0.12). The CEMEA average fraud to sales losses was therefore put at 0.11 per cent
During the same period, in terms of Africa issuer fraud losses, he noted that Kenya led the pack with 0.37 per cent fraud to sales losses, trailed by Egypt (0.16 per cent), Mauritius (0.15 per cent), South Africa (0.07 per cent) and Botswana and Tunisia having 0.03 per cent apiece. The CEMEA average fraud to sales losses was therefore put at 0.08 per cent.
But in the first quarter of 2005, he noted that Europe topped the list in terms of counterfeiting by region of card, accounting for 64.1 per cent of the counterfeited cards during the period.
This he said, was trailed by some regions in the CEMEA (10.3 per cent), United States of America and Asia (9.7 per cent each), Canada (4.8 per cent) and Latin America (1.24 per cent).
He however noted that fraud rates on Visa cards are on downward trend worldwide, stressing that Visa and its member banks work closely together to fight fraud.
"Visa has also developed CDs in Arabic, English and French to help intimate the police and other law enforcement agents with the various types of ways used by card fraudsters. We also give them various hi-tech tools to help them read as well as identify fake cards," he added.
Hawkey also maintained that technology would drastically reduce the incidences of card frauds.
Earlier, Visa's Business Development Manager, Nigeria, Mr. Garvin Young, defended the investment made in Valucard, which he described as the largest Visa has ever made in any entity within the sub Saharan Africa. Young who would be permanently based in Nigeria by December, said "there is huge potentials for e-payment transactions in the Nigeria."
Visa International had a couple of months ago bought 30 per cent stake in Valucard Nigeria Plc by committing $2.8 million to secure a seat on the board. Valucard, which is owned by 33 leading financial institutions, has in its consortium 43 banks.
Also commenting on Nigeria, General Manager and Senior Vice President: Sub-Saharan Africa, Visa International, Mr. Robert Clark described the Nigerian market as complex.
"The Nigerian market is complex with lots of banks in the e-payment consortiums using different platforms. The on-going consolidation is also changing the face of banking and there is also pressure to ensure trust and confidence in the banking system," he said.
Specifically, he said Visa is increasing its focus across sub Saharan Africa "because there are huge growth opportunities."
Visa, which has 13,905,452 and $29,796,677,744 card numbers and expenditure value respectively as at December 2004, he said, intends to increase year on year by 31 per cent in card numbers and 50 per cent in expenditure value.
"We want every metric to be doubled in the next two years and also want to be the alternative to cash," he added.
Visa International is the world's leading payment brand generating nearly $3 trillion in annual card sales volume. Visa, which is widely accepted in more than 150 countries, is reputed to play pivotal role in developing innovative payments products and technologies to benefit its 21,000 member financial institutions and their cardholders.
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