3Q Dr Steve Perry, commercial director, Visa Europe

How will consumption fare this year in the EU and Romania given a possible downturn in the Euro zone?

We look at the expenditure of consumers very carefully, almost weekly through our Visa data, and we have a good sense of what is happening. It is very clear to me that two things are going on. One, each country is very different and there isn’t a generic situation. Spain last year had negative consumer spending; from our data it now looks positive. Italy was positive; it’s now looking negative. The UK’s broader line is positive, but for some weeks has been looking negative. France broader line, zero. There is no generic story.

There are more worries about the Euro than Visa is able to cope with. Society has a bigger issue but we can easily implement a currency as one country moves from a national currency to the Euro. We have more than 40 settlements of currency in our system so if there was a problem with the Euro and the authorities came up with alternative currencies, we could implement them the next day.

How are Visa Europe’s Romanian operations performing in the region?

Romania would be in my top two countries in terms of growth; a 30 percent growth is very strong. It has been from a low base. Over the course of the last couple of years, what I am most excited about here in Romania is the move away from cash towards point-of-sale spending. We are beginning to get through to people’s psychology that there is little point in taking cash out of the ATM for making an expense and buying goods at the supermarket. I think growth in Romania will continue to be strong.

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On the economic situation, I know you have elections later this year, but growth looks good: GDP growth of 2 or 3 percent, inflation at 3 percent, unemployment at about 8 percent. I have a positive outlook for the Romanian economy in the next few years.

What new products have you proposed to Romanian banks?

I think person-to-person payment is a great opportunity for obvious reasons, with so many Romanians working abroad; the ability to have remittances is a service at low cost. Coming in parallel is EMV chip technology that will bring contactless payments, and as you are such a young country, predominantly young people, you will adopt the new technologies quickly, so I think this year NFC (near field communication) will grow in Romania. By 2020, more than half of Visa transactions will be on a mobile device.  

Ovidiu Posirca