Record number of debit card payments in 2012

24 January 2013

Card payments

Dutch consumers made more payments than ever with Maestro and V PAY debit cards in 2012, reaching a new record of 2.474 billion transactions. This was 8.3% more than in 2011.
The strongest growth was recorded in the €0 to €10 segment. The number of debit card payments in this category rose by more than 110 million, or 16.5%, to over 778 million, representing almost a third, or 31.5%, of all debit card transactions.

The growing proportion of small debit card payments reduced the average transaction amount by 5.6% to €34.08 in 2012. Public information campaigns such as “Small amount? Debit cards welcome!” and individual initiatives by businesses encouraging consumers to use debit cards instead of cash contributed substantially.

Efforts have been made in recent years to encourage debit-card-only checkouts in supermarkets. This has contributed to the increasing use of debit cards in supermarkets. René Roorda, Director of the Dutch Food Retail Association, says: “To increase checkout speed and security in shops, it is important for customers to pay by debit card as much as possible instead of using notes and coins. That is why we are making our preference for debit cards increasingly clear at the checkout. Debit-card-only checkouts communicate this most clearly. More than 1,400 supermarkets throughout the Netherlands now have such checkouts. It is good to see that these initiatives bore fruit in 2012.”

The Dutch Payments Association promotes electronic and account-to-account payments in the Netherlands. Its members are banks, payment institutions and electronic money institutions. Consumers and businesses are actively involved in the Association’s activities.