Banks, Financial Services, Latvia

At the end of 2014, Latvian banks issued a total of 2.3 million payment cards, 1.5 million or 66% of which were "MasterCard". The number of "Visa" cards was 687,600, "American Express" – 91,800.

Compared with the end of 2013, the number of "Visa" cards has shrunk, while the number of "MasterCard" increased. There was also a slight increase in the number of "American Express" cards.

The majority in Latvia are debit cards – 1.89 million or 82% of all payment cards. Further down on the popularity list are classic credit cards – 250,600, deferred payment credit cards – 99,900, and business payment cards – 61,000. Compared with the previous year, the number of debit cards has reduced, while the number of credit cards and business payment cards – increased.

As reported, in 2014, the number of transactions with payment/bank cards increased 21.2%, reaching 246.6 million transactions, on a turnover of EUR 9.3 billion, which is 12% or 988 million more than in 2013, according to statistics published by the Association of Commercial Banks of Latvia.

The number of cash withdrawals using payment terminals reached 263,800 in 2014, which is 34.4% more than in 2013. The number of transactions increased 23.8% to EUR 7.8 million.

A total of 20 banks are issuing payment cards in Latvia. At the end of 2014, banks issued a total of 2.3 million payment cards.