ATM card transactions in 2018 exceeded the 800 million mark for the first time. There was a real boom in contactless payments with the debit card (NFC).
The use of NFC continued to increase in 2018, and in the second half of the year, every second payment was already contactless. For the first time in November 2018, more than one billion euros per month were used for contactless payments. This was announced by PSA Payment Services Austria GmbH, a subsidiary of Austrian banks, together with its owners on Monday.
More than 800 million transactions
In total, more than 800 million transactions with a total volume of more than € 44.5 billion were executed in Austria in 2018 with Austrian ATM cards at home and abroad. This is an increase of 12.3 percent compared to 2017 and corresponds to an average of 2.2 million transactions per day. Of these, 661 million were transacted at the point of sale in 2018 (merchant debit card payments), up 15 percent from 2017.
With the use of debit cards during the Christmas season, Friday, 21. December was the strongest day in 2018 with 3.7 million transactions. Also the turnover with debit cards on this day with nearly 233 million euro was higher than on the peak day in the Christmas business of the previous year ,
„Cashless even small amounts“
„More and more often even small amounts are paid cashless,“ said PSA CEO David Ostah. „The fact that the Austrian banks have equipped their debit cards nationwide with the NFC contactless technology, was a golden right decision for this trend,“ added Harald Flatscher, also managing director of PSA, which has accelerated the payment process once again „and this convenience is well received“ ,
60 percent contactless
More than 350 million transactions with a volume of more than ten billion euros have already been handled by NFC. That is already almost 60 percent of the total transactions with debit cards. Compared to 2017, this is an increase of 76 percent for NFC and 83 percent for contactless volume.
According to PSA, NFC is particularly popular in the food trade, in gastronomy, in tobacconists, drugstores and pharmacies. The average amount of contactless payments with debit card is currently 29 euros. According to the PSA, NFC technology will gradually become the norm for cash recovery, and more and more ATMs will be able to handle their cash withdrawals via the contactless function. PSA points out that, since the NFC was introduced in 2013, there has not been a claim of damage from the NFC function on the card.
9.8 million cards
In addition to the payment transactions, a further 140 million cash withdrawals were made with Austrian ATM cards to cash dispensers in Switzerland and abroad (the number does not include cash withdrawals from bank customers to bank-issued cash dispensers). The number of debit cards issued in 2018 was 9.8 million cards. On behalf of the banks, PSA looks after around 7,350 cash dispensers. PSA expects 2019 from another plus in transactions with debit cards.
More services
Meanwhile, the ATM card is also offered by some banks on mobile devices such as smartphones, wristbands and stickers. ZOIN is also already offered by the majority of Austrian banks. Like a text message, it sends a sum of money to a selected contact on the phone. For the sending, receiving or requesting no account data of the counterpart are necessary. The money is immediately assigned to the recipient’s account via the phone number as soon as both sides have activated ZOIN. The only requirement is a one-time online registration with your own bank.
