Credit transfers are particularly popular in Slovakia

The ECB published new Insights into euro area statistics, analyzing the usage of non-cash payment methods in the euro area.

Europeans are most likely to reach for a card when they want to make a payment without using cash. While the number of card transactions in the euro area has more than doubled in the last decade, the average value of each transaction has fallen.

Consumers and businesses in the euro area use a wide variety of payment methods. In 2018 card payments accounted for almost half of the total number of non-cash payments across the single-currency area.

Credit transfers and direct debits were the second and third most common non-cash payment methods, accounting for approximately 23% each, while e-money and cheques together made up around 7%.

However, the relative popularity of each type of payment service still varies widely across euro area countries. In 2018 card payments accounted for just over 70% of all non‑cash payments in Portugal, compared with around 23% in Germany.

Credit transfers are particularly popular in Slovakia, accounting for almost 44% of the total number of non-cash payments in 2018, compared with just 2.4% in Luxembourg.

Cheques have fallen in popularity over the last decade, accounting for a mere 2.3% of total non-cash payments in 2018, compared with 8% in 2008. One country – France – accounted for almost 85% of all the cheques that were written in the euro area in 2018.

Source: ECB (Insights into euro area statistics)

National Bank of Slovakia
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Internet: http://www.nbs.sk

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