Contactless payment values up by almost a third – BPFI
The value of contactless payments rose by almost 30% year on year in January to €674m as consumers took advantage of the extended ‘tapping’ limit of €50, according to figures from the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland.
Contactless accounted for less than half of all card payments in January, despite the increase in the tapping threshold from €30 last April.
At 45% of the total number of card payments in January, it represented an increase from 42% a year earlier.
It suggests that consumers are still largely opting for chip and pin options when they make payments with their cards or are mainly using their cards for large purchases over the €50 tapping limit.
Ulster Bank is the only bank in the market here that currently has a charge for contactless transactions at 1 cent per tap.
AIB abandoned plans for a contactless charge which the bank was originally intending to introduce last year, but the plans coincided with the start of the pandemic.
Both AIB and Ulster Bank charge 20 cent for chip and pin transactions.
However, both banks have lower monthly account maintenance fees than most other banks.
A separate set of figures from the BPFI show that cheque usage has halved here since 2016.
Correspondingly, digital banking payments have jumped by over two thirds in the same period.
“As consumers continue to seek out innovative solutions combining speed, reliability and customer choice we have seen a growth in online and mobile banking of 67% to about 118 million payments in the last four years,” Brian Hayes, CEO of Banking and Payments Federation Ireland, said.
“Changing consumer preferences are also evident across other types of payments. The increasing appeal and surge in demand for contactless payments and the move away from cash, has had a major impact in the usage of cards, as the fast growing adoption of contactless drove an 80% increase in card payments,” he added.
“As consumers continue to seek out innovative solutions combining speed, reliability and customer choice we have seen a growth in online and mobile banking of 67% to about 118 million payments in the last four years,” Brian Hayes, CEO of Banking and Payments Federation Ireland, said.
“Changing consumer preferences are also evident across other types of payments. The increasing appeal and surge in demand for contactless payments and the move away from cash, has had a major impact in the usage of cards, as the fast growing adoption of contactless drove an 80% increase in card payments,” he added.
Article Source – Contactless payment values up by almost a third – BPFI – RTE
