ECB: “Electronic payments continue to rise”

Brussels –Paying by card is becoming increasingly popular and more and more a daily habit. So reports the European Central Bank in the updated data on electronic payments. Although “at a slower pace” compared with recent years, within the eurozone in 2024, “electronic payments continue to rise” and are becoming increasingly common.

ECB services distinguish between value and number of transactions completed. In terms of value, cards are the “most dominant” payment instrument among the different modes (with a 45 per cent share, down from 46 per cent), followed by the use of cash (39 per cent, down from 42 per cent) and mobile apps on smartphones (7 per cent, up from 4 per cent). In terms of the number of payments, however, paper money asserts itself: cash is used at the point of sale in 52 per cent of transactions, down from 59 per cent in 2022. 

The ECB report notes that an increase in online payments supports the growing share of digital payments. These account for 21 per cent of daily consumer payments by number and 36 per cent by value, up from 17 and 28 per cent in 2022, respectively. The most frequently used tool for online payments is cards, accounting for 48 per cent of transactions, followed by other electronic means of payment such as payment wallets and mobile apps, which, together, accounted for 29 per cent of transactions.