€53m spent per day using contactless payments
On an annual basis, the number of contactless payments had more than doubled since 2019 to 1.1 billion.
Cash is becoming less popular among consumers as contactless payments surged last year, according to banking representatives.
Consumers spent a record high of almost €18bn in 2022, representing around a 30% rise in the previous year, showed a new report by the Banking and Payments Federation or Ireland (BPFI).
In the final quarter of 2022, 3m contactless payments per day valued at €53m were recorded.
This the highest daily contactless spend in any quarter since the data series began in 2016. On an annual basis, the number of contactless payments had more than doubled since 2019 to 1.1bn, while the value was almost three times the 2019 level.
The Monitor also shows that the volume of online and mobile banking payments continued to grow by 5% year on year in Q4 to 37m.
"Today’s report demonstrates the continued growth in consumer reliance on contactless payments," said Gillian Byrne, head of payments at the BPFI.
This represents the highest quarterly volume since that data series began in 2016. “This is a continuation of the trend seen in recent years and figures reveal that volumes have more than doubled
to 143m since 2016 when there were only 71m transactions," said Ms Byrne.
It is unclear whether this trend will continue amid economic hardships facing consumers this year but so far contactless payments are becoming clear favourites for shoppers.
The publication of the BPFI report coincides with the hosting of BPFI’s National Payments Conference which is being opened by EU Commissioner for Financial Services Mairéad McGuinness. The conference will examine the latest payments developments at EU level including the digital euro and instant payments.
The conference will also explore the development of tailored services for customers using payment data as well as financial crime and the latest fraud trends.
