The total number of credit cards in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region jumped by 24 per cent in 2006 to 6.23 million, according to new research from Lafferty
Group, a UK-based retail banking and cards research house.

Lafferty Group forecasts that the number of credit cards in circulation will rise by a further 51 per cent by 2008, dwarfing growth in most other regions of the world.

Of the 12 markets analysed by Lafferty Group, Jordan saw the highest growth, with credit card numbers jumping by 61 per cent to almost 275,000. Tunisia had the second highest
growth, up 55 per cent to 55,000.

“We are witnessing incredible growth in the region, albeit from a low base,” comments Alison Smithie, manager of Lafferty’s World Cards Intelligence database.

“This is the first study to comprehensively reveal the explosion in the popularity of credit cards in the region, which in 2006 saw some of the highest levels of growth in card numbers
worldwide.”

The credit cards industry is very profitable to banks in the Mena region, she said.

As per Lafferty Group's calculations, the total pre-tax profit of the credit card industry in the region was $300 million in 2006. The group says this figure is likely to grow by 22 per cent between 2006 and 2008.

According to group’s analysis, Saudi Arabia is the most profitable market in the region, both in terms of overall profitability and profit per card, at $107 million and $95, respectively.

At the other end of the scale is Morocco in terms of overall profits, at $4 million, and Egypt in terms of profit per card, at $20.

According to Smithie, countries within the GCC are the most attractive to credit card issuers, because of the wealth of their inhabitants and their propensity to spend on credit cards.

“The region is currently experiencing an explosion in
wealth and consumers are increasingly spending this wealth through their credit cards – the five GCC markets alone generated $235 million in pre-tax profits last year.”

She pointed out that countries in North Africa and the Levant region were less profitable, but still highly attractive with strong long-term growth potential. TradeArabia News Service