Mobile wallets cement status as most popular form of contactless payment

Mobile payments have surged in value over the past year, consolidating their position as the most popular method of completing contactless payment transactions, new statistics from the Central Bank confirm.
All domestic contactless payments have grown “substantially” over the past 12 months, rising 16 per cent or €301.8 million to €2.2 billion in September, although the total was down on August in line with wider card payment trends.
Within this, the value of payments made using mobile wallets such as Apple Pay, Google Pay and other near-field communication (NFC) services has surged at an even greater rate, jumping 31.4 per cent, or €321.6 million, to €1.34 billion over the year to September.
Mobile wallet transactions accounted for 61 per cent of all contactless payments made in September, extending its share further compared to August, the Central Bank said, indicating that they are “increasingly becoming the most common method of contactless payments”.
By contrast, the value of cash withdrawals continues to slow. In September, cash withdrawals amounted to €1.12 billion, down almost 4.4 per cent compared to August and more than 2.5 per cent compared to a year earlier.
The trends are highlighted in the Central Bank’s monthly card payment statistics, which show that card spending was €8.56 billion in September, down 2.9 per cent on August’s total.
This was driven by a drop in domestic spending, the value of which declined 2.3 per cent to €7.05 billion. This fall is primarily linked to a decrease in point-of-sale payments. Domestic online payments, however, grew in both volume and value.
The value of non-domestic card spending fell 5.51 per cent to €1.51 billion on a monthly basis, with both point-of-sale and online payments retreating in value amid the end of the summer holiday season.
Dublin accounts for the majority of domestic card spending, making up 57 per cent or €4.04 billion of overall spending value. Monaghan has the lowest card spending, making up only 0.47 per cent or €32.96 million of the total.