Number of Visa cards jumps in Russia

Some 224 banks, members of the system Visa International, have issued more than 5m Visa cards in Russia, the press service of Visa International reported. At the end of the first quarter of 2003 the number of Visa cards in Russia was 5.1m, which was 111 percent higher than a year ago.

Visa transactions in Russia amounted to $8bn as of the end of March 2003, which was 96 percent higher than in 2002. More than 51,000 cash machines and trade outlets service Visa cards in Russia.