Bank of Israel: Credit card market grew 10.5% in 2005

The number of credit cards in circulation in Israel rose to 4.2 million at the end of 2005 from 3.8 million at the end of 2004, the Bank of Israel Banking Supervision Department said today in its annual report on the banking system for 2005. The number of credit cards in circulation rose by 10.3% in 2005, compared with 6.2% in 2004.

The credit card market rose to NIS 118.1 billion in 2005 from NIS 107.5 billion in 2004 and NIS 97.4 billion in 2003, an average growth rate of 10% a year.

The Bank of Israel recently published unofficial estimates indicating that credit card purchases increased by 9.6% in 2006, to NIS 130 billion. At the present rate of growth, the credit card market will reach NIS 190 billion by the end of 2010.

There were 490 million credit card transactions in 2005, 9% more than in 2004. Eight million of these transactions were made abroad. The average transaction size remained stable: NIS 241 in 2005, compared with NIS 239 in 2004. The average monthly credit card bill was also stable, falling just 0.3% to NIS 2,342 in 2005 from NIS 2,350 in 2004. The average number of credit card transaction per year fell to 116.7 in 2005 from 118.1 in 2004.

The Bank of Israel says that the development of revolving credit is an important development. Aggregate credit on these credit cards nearly doubled from NIS 467 million at the end of 2004 to NIS 841 million at the end of 2005.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on January 30, 2007