Cash is no longer king as we hit new contactless payment high

CONTACTLESS payments reached new highs this August with more than 62 million payments valued at almost €990million, according to the latest figures published yesterday by Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI).

THE average number of contactless payments made per day rose to two million and were valued at almost €32million, more than double the value of payments in April.

Outlining the key trends, BPFI chief executive Brian Hayes said: ‘Consumers have undoubtedly increased their use of contactless payments and reduced their dependence on cash in recent months.’ He said these figures show ‘a record-breaking high in terms of monthly contactless spendi ng’, with contactless payments accounting for half of all card payments in August 2020.

‘We can also see that consumers are making higher-value contactless payments than before. The average contactless payment value is up from €12.51 in March to €15.93 in August. Some of this can certainly be attributed to the increase in the contactless limit to €50 in response to the Covid-19 crisis.

‘This shift from cash to digital payments is further highlighted when we look at recent Central Bank of Ireland figures which show that the value of ATM withdrawals was 33% lower in August 2020 than a year earlier.

‘Once again this underlines the changing pattern in people’s behaviour and the ongoing shift from cash to digital. And while part of this shift is down to necessity and convenience due to the impact of Covid-19, there is no doubt that behaviours are fundamentally changing and that those who’ve become accustomed to paying by card will continue to do so.’