The Poles beat a new record. Contactless payments have never been so popular
The National Bank of Poland shared new data on the use of payment cards in Poland. Our countrymen once again showed how much they liked contactless payments.
Although we often complain about our mobile operators and banks, we should be happy in comparison to Western countries. A short trip to Germany or the United States is enough to appreciate both the coverage provided by Polish operators and the penetration of our market through payment terminals with the contactless payment option.
Contactless payments in Poland
On seemingly more mature markets such as the mentioned German and American, contactless payments are still not a standard. That is why in America, Apple Pay made a sensation a few years ago. For many residents of the United States, this was the first contact with the option of contactless payment for purchases and services.
We have been waiting for a few years for the debut of Apple Pay, but the market has developed without it. For this reason, in our eyes payments made by phones equipped with an NFC module - both those from Apple and Android smartphones with competitive Google Pay - are a development of the idea of paying contactless cards.
Contactless payments can be considered as the default form of payment in Poland.
According to the National Bank of Poland , we have beaten another record in this matter. At the end of the fourth quarter of 2018, the share of contactless cards in the total number of payment cards reached a record level of 84.1 percent (82.8 percent a quarter earlier). This market share translates into exactly 34.7 million pieces of contactless cards used by Poles. In the quarter they came 1.2 million units. Payment cards in total are in use 41.24 million units.
Cards, however, are only one side of the coin. The terminals that allow contactless payments were in Poland at the end of the fourth quarter of 2018 as much as 786.2 thousand. In addition, in our country, in practice, it is almost impossible to find terminals that do not offer contactless payment options, and contactless terminals already account for 100%. all POSs in the country.
The number of cards and terminals is not everything.
Poles liked the contactless payments so much that they spend more and more money in this way. In the previous quarter, the average value of a single non-contact transaction was PLN 52, and now it is PLN 56. I wonder, however, how much the trend is and how much the impact of the Christmas period.
However, it can not be hidden that not only the amounts, but also the number of transactions are growing. In the 4th quarter of 2018 alone, they carried out 974.4 million. In the previous analyzed period, there were 928.4 million, or 45.9 million less. This means an increase of 5 percent. however, Christmas shopping could have an impact here as well.
One way or another, contactless payments are 76.5 percent. all transactions, while a quarter earlier they accounted for 75.7 percent. all. Higher amounts and transactions also translate into an increase in the value of non-contact transactions - by PLN 6.5 billion to PLN 54.8 billion.
Interestingly, the share of contactless transactions in total non-cash transactions with payment cards amounted to 62.7%. and it was larger than in the previous period (60.4 per cent), but it was also much smaller than in the case of the number of transactions. Still at higher amounts, transactions are more often carried out in the classic way.
The Poles beat a new record. Contactless payments have never been so popular
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