2017 Outlook Features Moderate Global Dollar Growth, Buoyant Card Units

PRINCETON JUNCTION, N.J., May 15, 2017 — Adoption of more expensive chip cards continues to drive global card growth with 70 percent of all financial cards now having a chip, according today to the International Card Manufacturers Association’s (ICMA) release of its 2016 Global Card Market and Personalization and Fulfillment Statistics Reports.

The new research report also revealed that chip cards represented 88.6 percent of revenue for cards globally manufactured in 2016, according to data from ICMA, a global trade association for card manufacturers, personalizers, issuers and suppliers.

ICMA’s comprehensive reports — which quantified the market size that included $27.4 billion total card industry revenue, equating to the production of 35.4 billion cards in 2016 — are a source of valuable card industry data generated from primary and secondary research and statistical modeling created by Al Vrancart, ICMA founder emeritus and industry advisor.

“The global card industry continues to provide growth opportunities in several geographic regional and vertical markets,” Vrancart said. “The outlook for 2017 and beyond is for continued moderate global dollar growth and buoyant card units.”

The reports showed 0.8 percent global card unit growth to 35.4 billion cards manufactured with $19.8 billion in revenues, representing a 3.1 percent dollar growth last year. In addition, there was $7.55 billion worth of personalization and fulfillment services for a total of $27.35 in revenue in 2016.

The reports examined five regional markets: North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa and Asia Pacific. Within these regions, the reports analyzed card units manufactured in 12 vertical market segments:  Prepaid Phone, SIM Mobile Phone, Financial, Gift, Government/Health, Retail and Gas, Transportation, Loyalty and Promotional, ID and Membership, Access Control, Unprinted Blanks and Other.

Highlights from the card market reports included:

• Asia Pacific is No. 1 with 14.15 billion cards produced with 5.1 percent unit growth and $9.15 billion revenue with 2.7 percent dollar growth during the prior year.
• North America is No. 2 in units with 9.31 billion cards manufactured and No. 3 in dollars at $3.47 billion with 6.7 percent growth driven by continued chip card penetration.
• Europe ranks No. 2 in dollars at $4.61 billion and No. 3 in units at 5.9 billion cards with growth of 2.6 percent in dollars and 2.1 percent in units.
• SIM cards make up the largest dollar market at $6.53 billion and the third largest unit market at 5.4 billion cards.
• Financial cards make up the second largest unit market and dollar market at 5.5 billion cards and $5.1 billion.
• Government Health cards are the third largest dollar market at $3.2 billion and fifth in units at 3.2 billion cards.
• The global personalization and fulfillment market processed 29.8 billion cards for $7.55 billion.

The global card manufacturing market is valued at $19.8 billion and the personalization and fulfillment services market is valued at $7.55 billion, making the overall global card industry a $27.4 billion market.

The full reports are available to ICMA members on the ICMA website via www.icma.com. Non-members may purchase either report for $995 USD or $1,500 USD for both. ICMA membership information can be found on the ICMA website or by calling 609-799-4900.

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About ICMA

For nearly 30 years, ICMA has been a nonprofit association of card manufacturers, personalizers, suppliers and related industry participants. With 225 members globally, ICMA acts as a resource for industry issues, including the production, technology, application, security and environmental issues of cards. More information is available at www.icma.com.