It was reported by the Interbank Card Center (BKM) that card acceptance in public collections became widespread last year and total card payments grew by 20 percent and approached 1 trillion TL.
Card payment data for 2019 was announced by BKM. BKM revealed the developments in 2019 regarding the work towards the goal of card payments and cashless payments society in Turkey with its annual evaluation report.
Accordingly, 2019 was a turning point for “cashless payments”. Last year, while card acceptance became widespread in public collections, total card payments grew by 20 percent and approached 1 trillion TL. In 2019, 1 out of every 3 card payments was made with debit cards, and 1 TL out of every 5 TL card payment was made online.
Total number of cards is 236 million
The number of credit cards, including new users, reached approximately 70 million in 2019, an increase of 5 percent compared to the previous year, while the number of debit cards increased by 14 percent to 166 million. Thus, the total number of cards reached 236 million. Turkey continued to rank first in Europe in the number of both credit and debit cards.
Card payments are becoming more preferred every day
The amount of payments made with debit cards increased by 37 percent, reaching 134 billion TL, and the amount of payments made with credit cards increased by 17 percent, reaching 844 billion TL. Thus, the total card payment amount approached the 1 trillion TL threshold. While the usage area of cards is rapidly becoming widespread, the share of card payments in household consumption, which was 38 percent last year, reached a significant level of 41 percent this year.
The share of payment transactions among transactions made with debit cards reached 60 percent.
According to the report, 1 in every 3 card payments was made with a debit card, while the share of payment transactions among transactions made with debit cards was 60 percent. While this rate was 24 percent in 2010, such a rapid change in less than 10 years revealed that bank cards are becoming more and more accepted as a means of payment. Along with debit cards, commercial credit cards were used more in payments in 2019.
While payments made with commercial credit cards increased by 19 percent and reached 209 billion TL, the share of these payments in total credit card payments was 25 percent.
Airlines are at the top again in 2019
As in the previous year, the airline industry was the sector with the highest increase in card payments in 2019. While card payments in the airline industry increased by 41 percent in 2019, reaching 29 billion TL, this sector was followed by restaurant payments with a 35 percent increase and a card payment amount of 50 billion TL. The clothing sector, which was not among the top five in the list of fastest growing sectors in 2018, ranked third with an increase of 31 percent and a payment amount of 89 billion TL. This was followed by the accommodation sector with a 30 percent increase and 23 billion TL card payment amount, and the travel agencies with a 29 percent increase and 31 billion TL card payment amount.
Among the sectors where the most card payments were made, markets and shopping malls took the first place with 181 billion TL. These two sectors were followed by clothing with 89 billion TL, fuel with 85 billion TL, small food retail with 72 billion TL and electronic goods with 53 billion TL.
Online card payment amount reached 190 billion TL
While the use of card payments on the internet became rapidly widespread in 2019, the number of people experiencing online shopping continued to increase. Online card payments, which were 139 billion TL in 2018, increased by 37 percent to 190 billion TL in 2019. According to the report, with the influence of the young population and digital transformation, the share of online card payments in total exceeded 18 percent. In other words, 1 TL of every 5 TL card payment is now made online.
Contactless payments have increased 17 times in 4 years
According to the report, the number of contactless cards continues to increase day by day. In 2019, where 1 in every 2 credit cards was contactless, the number of contactless credit cards reached 38 million. While the contactless transformation in bank cards continues rapidly, the number of contactless bank cards increased to 36 million and the share of contactless in total bank cards increased to 21 percent. While two out of every three terminals support contactless, the number of contactless terminals has increased 5 times since 2015 and reached 1.56 million. With this development in the number of contactless cards and the number of terminals, the number of contactless payments increased 17 times in the last 4 years, reaching 502 million in 2019. Today, while more than 2 million contactless transactions are made per day, 1 in every 7 face-to-face payments is now made contactless.
Foreign spending doubled
Shopping made in Turkey with foreign cards in 2019 doubled last year, reaching 82 billion TL. In 2019, when the number of incoming foreign visitors reached its peak, 3 thousand 500 TL payment was made per card with 23 million different foreign cards, and the average payment amount per transaction with foreign cards was determined as 753 TL.
The “best” card payments of 2019
In its report, BKM also included the “best” of card payments in 2019. Last year’s “best” highlights of the payments ecosystem were listed as follows:
“The highest number of card payments were made for New Year’s shopping on December 31, with 23 million transactions. In 2019, the day with the highest amount of card payments with 4.2 billion TL was July 31, when MTV payments were made. The highest number of card payments online with 1.4 billion TL Magnificent Friday took place on November 29. The contactless payment record was broken with 2.7 million transactions made with 2 million cards for New Year’s shopping on December 31. The day with the highest payment with 383 million TL with foreign cards was September 25, which coincides with the end of the summer holidays. .”
“Card acceptance in the public sector is important for ‘cashless payments'”
BKM General Manager Dr., whose views on the report were included in the statement. Soner Canko stated that the recent developments regarding card acceptance in the public sector have made a significant contribution to the “cashless society” target.
Canko stated that the widespread use of card payments, especially in public collections, is very important for individuals to gain the habit of using cards and said:
“We have been witnessing good developments in this regard recently. For example, we will be able to pay by card at notaries as of February 1, 2020. In addition, it is now possible to benefit from public transportation services with contactless cards in Ankara, cards have started to be accepted in Ispark, and the common POS application at customs The commissioning of various taxes and fees and the collection of various tax and fee payments with cards through the Interactive Tax Office channel of the Revenue Administration are also good developments in recent times. However, of course, the share of card payments in public collections needs to increase further. For this, especially the public transportation vehicles of Istanbul and other metropolitan cities. It is very important that cards can be used in collections made in public institutions such as tax offices, vehicle inspection stations, land registry offices, police and traffic branch offices, courthouses, public hospitals and SGK centers. The share of card payments in public collections is currently low compared to other areas. This rate is low. “As the number of payments increases, the prevalence of card payments in our country will increase further.”
Source: https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/ekonomi/toplam-kartli-odeme-tutari-2019da-1-trilyon-tlye-yaklasti/1718801
