ENGLEWOOD, Colo.–Smart payment card unit shipments are forecast to grow from an estimated 2.5 billion in 2015 to almost 3.4 billion in 2020, despite an increase in mobile and wearable payment products, according to new data released by IHS Technology.
The company projected that the United States and China will to continue to be the key markets globally that will drive the growth of EMV card shipments over the next five years.
In the U.S., shipments of smart payment and banking cards are projected to grow strongly, from 223.2 million in 2014 to 644.2 million in 2015. The initial growth for EMV cards will come from tier-1 banks, but growth from tier-2 and tier-3 banks is projected to ramp up, as well, HIS Technology said.
Shipments of smart payment and banking cards to the U.S. in 2016 are projected to decline slightly to 624.7 million, primarily because large issuers and processors overstocked in 2015. “This card glut is projected to have a negative impact on the card demand and sales growth in 2016,” IHS Technology said. “Small and medium-sized issuers have been slower to transition to chip-based cards. China is more advanced when it comes to EMV card migration than the United States. The number of smart payment cards shipped in 2015 was nearly 600 million.”
HIS Technology said it is important to note that only “pure” payment cards are looked at in these totals; the Chinese social security card, Chinese transport card and Chinese health card with a payment function and co-branded cards are excluded.
“Despite the hype around mobile payments and wearable payments, the smart payment card is still in excellent health – displaying good growth potential over the next five years,” the company said in its analysis.