Scheme debit winning share

Almost a quarter of all spending on debit cards is now done using a scheme debit card. The Eftpos system is slowly but surely losing its grip on the debit payment market.

MWE Consulting's latest Australian payment cards report, released yesterday, provides a breakdown between Eftpos and scheme debit purchases for the first time.

MWE Consulting's Mike Ebstein said the analysis was possible because the Reserve Bank had started to segment debit payment into the two streams.

Debit is increasing its share of the value of card purchases and within the debit category scheme debit is gaining share from Eftpos.

Scheme debit share of debit purchases, by value, rose from 21.3 per cent in March 2008 to 23.7 per cent in February this year.

The average size of a purchase made with a scheme debit card is about 50 per cent greater than an Eftpos purchase.

As a result of this disparity in average purchase size, scheme debit share of transaction volume is only 16.8 per cent.

Purchases made with Visa or MasterCard debit cards are smaller than purchases made with Visa or MasterCard credit cards - about two-thirds the value.