2021 was a banner year for online payments

Even in the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, online payments increased strongly in terms of both the number of transactions (+14%) and spending (turnover, +20%). The number of debit card payments at the point of sale remained at the same level as the previous year, although spending increased slightly (+5%). The rough estimate of the number of cash payments at the point of sale and the associated spending changed very little. However, cash payments had already fallen at an unprecedented rate during the first pandemic year of 2020 (-43% in the number of payments and -33% in spending).

Despite all the COVID-19 restrictions, by far the largest number of payments are still made at physical points of sale. The number of payments at shop checkouts is ten times the number of online payments at webshops. The difference in spending is smaller: turnover at physical checkouts is more than three times as high as online turnover.

Use of cash remains low

The use of cash had already fallen sharply in 2020 and changed very little in 2021. ATM use more than halved in the two years since 2019, to an estimated 117 million cash withdrawals a year. The number of cash payments at the point of sale fell by around 40% over the same two-year period. In 2021, 1.35 billion cash payments were made, with a value of €21 billion.

Cash payments now account for less than one quarter of all point-of-sale payments. The number of debit card payments at the point of sale fell by ‘only’ 2% over the two pandemic years, to 4.49 billion transactions worth €123 billion in 2021. This was virtually unchanged from 2020.

Contactless and cardless payments growing strongly

Contactless and cardless payments using a smartphone, smartwatch or wearable continued to increase in 2021. Nine out of ten debit card payments are now contactless, with or without a physical card. Almost one quarter of all contactless payments are now cardless, mainly using smartphones and smartwatches. The card is inserted into the payment terminal for only one in ten debit card payments.

Acceptgiro nearing the end

The use of Acceptgiro also fell sharply in 2021, by more than 30%—the largest annual decline ever recorded. During the year, consumers sent only 4.43 million paper Acceptgiro forms to their banks for processing. Recipients discarded around 40 million Acceptgiro forms unused after paying the invoice or donation digitally.

By mid-2021, fewer than 9,000 companies and institutions were sending Acceptgiro forms to customers and donors, more than 40% fewer than a year earlier.

Digital and paper alternatives to Acceptgiro

Banks will stop processing paper Acceptgiro forms in the middle of next year, and the forms will no longer be sent to consumers. Tens of thousands of companies and institutions that previously stopped sending Acceptgiro forms have already switched to a range of alternatives.

Common alternatives include direct debit mandates, either digital or on paper; standardised payment instructions, also digital or on paper; and digital payment requests sent by email, text message or chat. QR codes on payment instructions and payment requests make it easy to pay quickly and without errors.