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Contactless payments nearly fivefold in 2016

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The number of contactless payments nearly quintupled to 630 million in 2016. In December, 23.5% of all debit card payments were contactless. Contactless payments can now be made at two-thirds of all payment terminals in the Netherlands; see contactless payments on pin.nl (in Dutch)(opens in new window) . More than 19 million debit cards and smartphones are equipped for this.

Electronic payments generally continued to grow strongly in 2016: the total number of debit card payments rose by 10.6%, while the number of iDEAL(opens in new window) payments increased by 27.3%.

Hand holds blue debit card with chip in front of screen with iDEAL logo, symbol for safe online payment via bank account.

Debit card payments for small amounts continue to grow faster than average

A total of 3.57 billion debit card payments worth €97.3 billion were made in 2016. While the total number of debit card payments (in Dutch)(opens in new window) rose by 10.6%, the number of debit card payments for amounts up to €10 increased by no less than 17.2%. More than four out of ten debit card payments are now for less than €10. This rapid increase is mainly due to the strong growth in contactless payments.

Bar chart showing annual debit card payment volumes by transaction amount band from 2013 to 2016.

Strong growth in mobile iDEAL payments

2016 was the year in which iDEAL payments by smartphone or tablet made their definitive breakthrough. The monthly number of mobile iDEAL payments rose to almost 11 million in December 2016, more than double the figure for December 2015. In the final month of 2016, mobile payments accounted for 38.2% of all iDEAL payments. The introduction during 2016 of various mobile apps that allow consumers to pay each other easily and quickly through iDEAL will have contributed to this growth.

Line chart showing the monthly and cumulative number of iDEAL transactions in 2016.

On King’s Day 2016, the billionth iDEAL payment(opens in new window) was recorded after just over ten years. Another 200 million iDEAL payments have been made since then. Across 2016, 282.6 million iDEAL payments worth €23.7 billion were made. Rapid growth in online shopping and the online payment of invoices meant that the number of iDEAL payments grew even faster last year, by 27.3%, than in the previous year, when growth was 23.2%.

Few disruptions to electronic payments

There were no major nationwide disruptions to debit card payments in 2016. A major telecommunications outage in September lasted several hours, however, briefly preventing consumers from making debit card payments at some small and medium-sized businesses and shops.

The average availability of iDEAL (in Dutch)(opens in new window) for consumers between 7 am and 1 am was 99.7% last year. Availability for both online and mobile banking was 99.8% in 2016.

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