In 2011, the number of transactions made via Visa cards at Point-of-sale (POS) in Romania has increased by 30 percent, a recent study has unveiled.

The study, which was conducted by Visa Europe, has also indicated that during the period under review, the average amount spent by consumers and paid using a Visa card has continued its descendent trend, reaching EUR 38 per transaction. This confirms the fact that Romanian consumers use cards for smaller, daily payments.

According to the source, in 2011, the average POS transaction value decreased by 6.6 percent, while the total value of payments processed via POS has grown by 44 percent. Also, total spending paid using Visa cards via POS and ATMs went up by 13 percent in Romania.

The same research has mentioned that in 2011, there were 6.8 million Visa-branded cards in Romania, up by 4.5 percent as compared to 2010. Debit cards use were the most popular ones, registering 80 percent of total spending on card covered by debit cards.

Data has also shown that the total spending paid by Visa-branded cards in Europe increased by 14 percent in 2011, reaching EUR 1.16 billion. This is equivalent to EUR 1 out of every EUR 7 spent in Europe paid by Visa card.