According to the Interbank Card Center’s (BKM) 2009 report, the largest amount of money was charged to credit cards during the Eid al-Fitr holiday, TL 1.14 billion, which was followed by Eid al-Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice) holiday shopping, for which TL 1 billion was spend via credit cards. TL 665 million was spent for New Year’s shopping in 2009, during which most of the shopping was done from markets. During Valentine Day’s shopping a total of TL 642 million was charged to credit cards, of which the largest portion was used for jewelry purchases.
The BKM report points out that the number of transactions on debit cards increased by 39 percent in 2009 compared to the previous year as a result of an awareness-raising campaign to encourage usage of debit cards for shopping. The report found that shopping on credit cards falls by an average of 45 percent during soccer matches. Derbies between Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray teams cause shopping to almost completely cease, the report read. Shopping on credit cards happens 40 percent more on Saturdays than weekdays, the BKM report states.
According to the report, the number of credit cards in Turkey now stands at 44.39 million, while the total number of debit cards totaled 64.66 million. The number of points-of-sale (POS) and automatic teller machines (ATMs) was 1.74 million and 23,800 as of the end of 2009, respectively.
