EUROCHEQUE EXPECTS AROUND 10 PCT CARD GROWTH
The number of cards in the Eurocheque
system, Europe's biggest personal payments system, grew by 11
pct to 39.1 mln last year and is expected to continue
increasing by around 10 pct in coming years, Eurocheque
International Secretary General Mark Van Wauve said.
    He told a news conference Eurocheque cards can now be used
in 40 European and Mediterranean countries to back Eurocheques
written in local currency and, where facilities are available,
as electronic debit cards. The system would have 5,000
automatic cash dispensers by the end of this year and aimed to
have 25,000 throughout Europe by 1992.
    Eurocheques and cards are issued by banks in 21 countries.
    Van Wauve said Italian banks, who already accept
Eurocheques, had recently asked to be allowed also to issue
Eurocheques and cards to their clients. It was possible these
would be launched in Italy this year if the Rome government
agreed to lift exchange controls that prevent residents writing
cheques abroad in any currency but lira, he told Reuters.
    Eurocheque International, the system's Brussels-based
coordinating centre, was also reviewing a request from the
Soviet Union for permission to issue cheques and cards.
    Eurocheque's agreements with banks do not permit them to
charge commissions from clients using Eurocheques, and Van
Wauwe said problems with French banks that have demanded such
commissions had been reduced to a minimum last year.
    Eurocheques can also be used to pay in local currency for
goods and services bought in over five mln retail outlets in 28
countries, with Hungary, Tunisia and Greece added to the system
this year. East Germany last year became the 40th country to
accept Eurocheques, made out in dollars, at banks and shops.
    Eurocheque International estimated the total of Eurocheques
used nationally and internationally at over one billion a year.
 REUTER
