Digital banking and contactless payments continue to grow strongly.

Online and mobile banking payments continued to grow strongly in Q3 2021 as Covid-19 restrictions eased and business activity increased according to the latest Payments Monitor from Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI).

The report also shows that contactless payments reached new heights in the third quarter of this year at almost 234 million payments worth nearly €3.8 billion.

Outlining the latest figures Brian Hayes, Chief Executive, BPFI said: “Our latest Payments Monitor is very clearly highlighting the continued shift away from paper-based payments to digital banking (i.e. online and mobile banking). In the third quarter of this year online and mobile banking payment volumes grew by 8.6% year on year to 32.2 million payments. This was the highest level recorded since BPFI began collecting this data in 2016. Looking at the year -to-date picture we can see that in the nine months ending September 2021, digital banking payments grew by 11% year on year compared with the same period of 2020, pointing to greater use of electronic remote channels in place of paper-based payments in particular.”

“At the same time cheque payments remained at historically low levels but were broadly unchanged from the first two quarters of the year. In year-on-year terms, cheque volumes were 15.8% down in the year-to-date.”

  • Online/mobile banking grew by 8.6% year on year to 33.3 million in Q3 2021, the highest level recorded since the data series began in 2016.
  • Contactless payments reached new heights in Q3 2021 at almost 234 million payments worth nearly €3.8 billion

Contactless

The Monitor, which also captures contactless data, shows the use of contactless payments reached new heights in Q3 2021 at almost 234 million payments worth nearly €3.8 billion. The number and value of payments were 17.2% and 19%, respectively, above the previous highs in Q2 2021.

Looking at the monthly picture for September, contactless payment volumes rose by 25.6% year on year to 75.6 million or 2.5 million payments per day. The value of contactless payments during September rose by 29.1% to more than €1.2 billion or €40.1 million per day. While payments volumes increased in year-on-year terms, they fell to the lowest monthly level since June 2021, likely reflecting the wider seasonal decline in grocery spending as many people took holiday breaks.

Article Published: 03/12/2021