Singapore, December 6th 2012 – Visa has recently released the annual global Commercial Consumption Expenditure (CCE) index, which estimates that global commercial spending reached US$109.1 trillion in 2011 and the first time since Visa created the CCE in 2004 that this spending surpassed US$100 trillion.

2011’s spend represents 12 percent growth from the $97.4 trillion spent in 2010. Asia Pacific reported the largest share of global CCE spend, followed by Europe, the United States, Central/Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, and Canada. In this year’s (2011) index, Asia Pacific’s spending share surpassed Europe’s for the second consecutive year. The strongest year-over-year growth rates came from Latin America/Caribbean region (19.4 percent), followed by Central/Eastern Europe, Middle East Africa region (17.4 percent) and Asia Pacific region (14.9 percent).

“Strong growth that has been fuelling the Asia Pacific economy over the past few years is now being reflected as part of commercial spend which has already outpaced Europe and USA,” said Pradeep Roy, Head of Commercial and Prepaid Products, Asia Pacific, Central Europe, Middle East and Africa, Visa.

“Underneath this growth lies a clear opportunity for financial institutions to optimize their commercial card programs to capture more spend with electronic payments and ultimately better meet the needs of their commercial and government clients.”

The top five Asia Pacific markets in size of total spend were China (US$12.3 trillion), Japan (US$11.7 trillion), India (US$3.9 trillion), South Korea (US$2.8 trillion) and Australia (US$2 trillion). Singapore (US$ 574 billion) is ranked 28th, ahead of Thailand (32nd), Malaysia (36th) and Hong Kong (42nd).

Ooi Huey Tyng, country manager for Singapore and Brunei, said: “At 23 percent year-on-year growth, Singapore’s estimated growth in commercial spending for 2011 is almost double the global average and is one of the highest in Asia Pacific. With increased commercial spending, businesses will need to find innovative ways to track expenses, manage cash flow and keep costs in control. This is why demand for commercial payment solutions such as the Visa Business card is becoming the preferred choice to help business big or small to simplify bookkeeping.”

Re-disseminated by The Asian Banker