BKM (Interbank Card Center) shares card payment data periodically, and this information provides more detailed insight into the card payments sector.
In 2020, the pandemic had serious lasting effects on both economic activity and consumer behavior, worldwide and in Turkey. One of the most affected areas was payment habits. One of the notable points in the report is that the share of contactless and online payments in total transaction volume has increased and will continue to increase.
Let's look at the BKM data together:
In 2020, contactless payments and online card payments were preferred more in Turkey; the total card payment amount also grew by 17 percent to TRY 1.15 trillion.
The number of credit cards rose by 8 percent year over year to 75.7 million in 2020, while the combined number of debit cards and prepaid cards rose by 13 percent to 188.1 million. The total number of cards thus reached approximately 264 million. Turkey maintained its position as the leading country in Europe by total number of cards in 2020 as well.
In both the physical and online worlds, card payments, which make life easier, came to the fore as a hygienic and healthy payment method under the influence of the pandemic. 2020 was a year in which card payments continued to spread across all areas, from basic needs to tax payments, from international shopping to online payments.
According to BKM data, across 2020 the payment amount made with debit cards reached TRY 188.8 billion, up 41 percent year over year, while the payment amount made with credit cards reached TRY 957.8 billion, up 14 percent year over year. As a result, the total card payment amount in 2020 grew by 17 percent compared to 2019 and came to TRY 1.15 trillion. Considering that payments made with cards amounted to about TRY 8 billion per year in 2000, it is striking how much card payments have developed over these 20 years and how large an economy they now intermediate. With the spread of card usage areas, the share of card payments in household consumption has reached a significant level of 41 percent today.
While the use of debit cards in payments continues to spread rapidly, the share of payments made with debit cards in the total number of card payments reached 36 percent in 2020; in other words, 2 out of every 5 card payments were made with a debit card.
In the breakdown of debit card transaction counts in 2020 into payments and cash withdrawals, the share of payment transactions was 67 percent and the share of cash withdrawal transactions was 33 percent. Considering that the share of payment transactions was 60 percent in 2019, the 7-point increase in such a short time as a year indicates that debit cards are increasingly positioned as a means of payment.
Besides debit cards, commercial credit cards also continued to be used more in payments in 2020. Payments made with commercial credit cards rose by 27 percent to TRY 265 billion, and their share in total credit card payments reached 28 percent.
In 2020, the sector where the card payment amount grew fastest was electronics. Card payments in the electronics sector rose by 65 percent compared to the previous year to TRY 88 billion, followed by grocery payments with a 35 percent increase and TRY 341 billion in card payments. In third place were public/tax payments, with a 31 percent increase and TRY 37 billion in payments. They were followed by the building materials/hardware sector with a 29 percent increase and TRY 50 billion in card payments, and the furniture/decoration sector with a 17 percent increase and TRY 38 billion in card payments.
In the sectoral ranking by card payment size, grocery payments took first place with TRY 341 billion. This sector was followed by electronics with TRY 88 billion, apparel with TRY 80 billion, fuel with likewise TRY 80 billion, and building materials/hardware with TRY 50 billion.
In 2020, an extraordinary year, the habit of paying online spread day by day with the growing use of internet and mobile technologies across different segments of society, and this was reflected in card payment statistics as well. Online card payments, which were TRY 190 billion in 2019, rose by 37 percent in 2020 to TRY 260 billion. Thanks to the digital transformation on both the user and merchant sides, the share of online card payments in the total exceeded 22 percent. Accordingly, 1 out of every 5 TRY of card payments was made online.
Contactless payments, which offer users a fast, easy and hygienic way to pay, became an indispensable payment instrument in our lives in 2020, also under the influence of the pandemic. In 2020, the number of contactless credit cards reached 45 million; this means that 3 out of every 5 credit cards -that is, 60 percent of all credit cards- are contactless-enabled. The contactless transformation continues rapidly in debit cards as well: the number of contactless debit cards rose to 51 million, and the share of contactless debit cards in total debit cards rose to 27 percent. The number of terminals that can accept contactless payments rose rapidly in 2020 to nearly 2 million, and today 3 out of every 4 terminals can accept contactless payments.
The number of contactless payments made with cards increased 2.5-fold compared to last year to 1.73 billion. While 502 million contactless payments were made in all of 2019, the number of contactless payments made in a single month has now reached 200 million. In in-store card payments, 2 out of every 5 payments are now contactless.
The "records" of card payments in 2020 were also announced. The records of last year's payments ecosystem are as follows;
The highest number of card payments, with 27 million transactions, took place on 30 July, the eve of Eid al-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice).
In 2020, the highest card payment amount, TRY 5.5 billion, was recorded on 31 December for New Year's shopping.
The highest online card payment amount, TRY 1.9 billion, was recorded on 27 November, Amazing Friday (Black Friday).
On 31 December, a contactless payment record was set with 11 million transactions made with 6 million cards for New Year's shopping.
The day of the week with the highest card payment amount during the year was Monday, and the hour range of the day was 15:00-16:00.
*Prepaid card counts and transactions made with prepaid cards are included in the debit card statistics.
Source: https://fintechistanbul.org/2021/02/02/bkm-2020-yili-kartli-odeme-verilerini-acikladi/
