What's in your wallet?

Poland is now Europe's 8th largest plastic money market. According to the National Bank of Poland, Poles had nearly 22 million credit cards at the end of the first half of this year.

In 2005, the value of the Polish plastic money market increased to $1.4 billion from $770 million in 2004.

The market is estimated to reach $4.2 billion in 2010.

A story we somehow missed from 2005.

Communion dress: $120.00; Traditional Polish wedding reception: $3,500; Heavenly credit - the Rosary shaped in the form of a debit card: Priceless.

Jewellers in Milan have started to offer the world a new line in heavenly credit - the Rosary shaped like a credit card. Out goes the traditional (but untidy) string of beads; in comes the card with embossed points, ready to lie snugly in your wallet between the Gold Amex and driving license.


The card comes in various forms: plastic for those who can afford to pay the least, brass or copper-embossed for middle-income earners (pictured) and a de luxe version in gold, studded with diamonds. The jewellers say that it will enable people to say their Hail Marys in the middle of a frantic world. According to The Times of London, the card is said to have the approval of the Vatican. Other sources close to the Primate claim he is so taken by the device that he won't leave Rome without it. (The latter claim remains unverified.)