The number of active credit cards, the least common bank card in Iran, increased 15.5% during the month to Feb 18 compared to the month before.
Data released by Shaparak Company, the company affiliated to the Central Bank of Iran in charge of managing the national payment network, shows that 242,800 credit cards were used at least once during the one-month period.
Iranian banks issue credit cards, debit cards, and gift cards. Numbers show debit cards are still the most common form of bank cards accounting for 95.2% or 111.7 million of the total active cards. Credit cards had 0.21% share of the total.
Credit cards were never the norm and limited to VIPs. But now that seems to be changing and CBI policy of promoting credit cards as an instrument for microloan is influencing banks' decision to rethink.
The appeal of credit cards is now likely to grow as lenders' reluctance to give microloans leave customers no choice but to resort to credit.
Shaparak report indicates that state-owned banks and privatized lenders are more interested in offering credit. Bank Melli Iran, owned by the government, alone had 35% share from the total number of active credit cards during the period.
State-owned Bank Sepah was next with 17.5% followed by Bank Mellat and Bank Saderat Iran, two privatized banks, with respectively 15% and 9% share of the total number of credit cards during the month. Saman Bank topped the list of private banks in terms of issued cards, accounting for 2.4% of the total.
Rise in the share of credit cards could also be due to a recent CBI decision allowing owners of the so-called Justice Shares to use the shares as collateral for receiving credit cards from banks up to 60% of the share portfolio.
Justice Shares are shares of government-owned companies that were given to the six lowest income deciles of Iranians ten years ago. Shareholders were not allowed to sell the shares until recently.
Five banks were to start issuing credit cards to owners of the Justice Shares in late January with BMI taking the lead.
More than 49 million Iranians own the shares comprising largely of blue chips and large cap stocks. The portfolio includes 49 state-owned companies in the auto, metal, mining, and agriculture, petrochemical and banking sectors.
