There were 320 million card payments made in the first quarter of 2021 as ATM withdrawals fell by 44 per cent, according to figures from the Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI).
Cheque usage also fell by 26 per cent as the pandemic saw people favour card payments.
Speaking on the latest trends, Brian Hayes, chief Executive, BPFI said: “The latest trends indicate that consumers and businesses continue to move away from cash and paper-based payments. Over the first three months of the year, the Central Bank of Ireland reports some 320 million card payments were made. BPFI data shows that in-store contactless payments, which includes payments with cards as well as mobile wallets such as Apple Pay or Google Pay, made up 47 per cent of those payments. And over the course of the quarter the volumes of contactless payment volumes rose by 12.9 per cent to almost 149 million.”
Mr Hayes added: “This is in stark contrast to cash and paper-based payments with the growth in contactless largely being driven by consumers moving away from cash payments at the point of sale. Our report today shows both the volume and value of ATM cash withdrawals down by 44.3 per cent and 35.7 per cent, respectively, compared with Q1 2020. Cheque usage also saw a sharp decline with volumes falling by 26.3 per cent year on year to 4.9 million. This was the second lowest quarterly volume recorded after 4.8 million in Q2 2020.”
