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Five-billionth debit card payment in a single year

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This week, the five-billionth debit card payment within a single calendar year was made in the Netherlands for the first time. The previous annual record was set in 2019—the final year before the coronavirus pandemic—with 4.58 billion debit card payments. In 2020 and 2021, the total stalled at 4.48 billion and 4.49 billion transactions respectively. The final figure for 2022 is expected to be around 5.25 billion transactions.

Man in camel-colored jacket checks in at the GVB gate with his smartphone for contactless travel on public transport.

Promising new use of debit card payments

Gijs Boudewijn, managing director of the Dutch Payments Association, made a contactless public transport payment using his smartphone around the time the five-billionth debit card payment was calculated to have taken place. “The Dutch Payments Association is pleased that points of sale have returned to growth after two difficult years during the coronavirus pandemic, at least in terms of the number of purchases made by debit card. This milestone provides a good moment to reflect on that, with a new and promising application for contactless debit card payments: checking in and out of public transport in the Netherlands using a debit or credit card.”

Gijs Boudewijn makes a contactless public transport payment by smartphone to mark the five-billionth debit card payment of 2022.

Busiest shopping week still to come

In recent weeks, debit cards were used more often around Black Friday and Sinterklaas than on normal days in 2022 and more often than around the same shopping days in previous years.

The week immediately before Christmas is usually the busiest shopping week of the year, when the annual record for the number of debit card payments in a single day is broken.

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