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Smartphones increasingly used for person-to-person payments

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Cash is still the main payment method between consumers, but person-to-person payments by smartphone are clearly on the rise.

Compared with 2016, the number of smartphone transfers between family members, friends and acquaintances tripled last year to 96 million transactions. Smartphones now account for 21 per cent of all payments between people who know one another. These findings come from joint research by the Dutch Payments Association and De Nederlandsche Bank into the use of cash and electronic payment methods in the Netherlands in 2017.

Illustration of two people using smartphones to exchange payment for a bicycle, with cash and wallets crossed out.

Consumers also use smartphones for other person-to-person transfers, including payments related to school and sports activities and donations to charities.

At points of sale, the share of cash payments declined further to 41.4 per cent. Debit cards now account for 58.1 per cent of all point-of-sale payments.

Read the full bulletin from De Nederlandsche Bank (in Dutch)…

View the full ‘Point-of-sale payments in 2017’ factsheet (in Dutch)…

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