Transactions with domestic cards increased by a good fifth compared to 2019 to 1.1 billion. However, the volume fell from 46.7 to 46 billion euros.
The Austrians are pulling out their ATM cards more and more often
The Austrians also kept a greater distance from cash in the 2020 corona year. Because of the pandemic, people are generally encouraged to pay by card. The number of transactions with domestic ATM cards increased by more than 20 percent from 900 million to 1.1 billion, as PSA Payment Services Austria (PSA) announced on Thursday. The card was pulled out more often, but the volume moved decreased from € 46.7 billion in 2019 to € 46 billion.
If you add the use of ATMs by foreign cardholders in Austria, more than 1.2 billion transactions with a volume of 58.3 billion euros were processed on behalf of the banks via PSA – according to the information for the first time in the history of Austrian ATM cards. The total was € 58.3 billion. So there were also more movements (2019: 1 billion) and fewer volumes (2019: 61.5 billion euros).
The increase in transactions is not fully reflected in the total sales volume in the corona year, the company said. “On the one hand, there is of course a lack of sales from international tourism, on the other hand, there are also reports of fewer Austrian spending in the pandemic year in retail,” explained a spokeswoman.
The ATM was generally used less often than in 2019 – the number of cash withdrawals with Austrian cards at ATMs at home and abroad fell significantly from 137 to 100 million.
Shortly before the first lockdown – on Friday, March 13, 2020 – the ATM cards glowed. With over 5 million transactions, it was the busiest day of the entire year, according to PSA. At 324 million euros, sales were even significantly higher than on the peak day of the Christmas business of the previous year, which was marked on 23 December 2019 with 272 million euros (and 4.5 million transactions).
In 2020, a total of almost 886 million payment transactions were made using Austrian bank cards for purchases (payments with bank cards at retailers and in e-commerce), 16 percent more than in the previous year. The volume for this rose by almost 13 percent to almost 33 billion euros. As a result of the ever increasing switch to new, more easily usable bank cards (debit cards), the share of e-commerce transactions increased fivefold to 18 million last year. The turnover achieved with this reached 660 million euros.
Despite the corona-related economic restrictions, the development of cashless transactions in Austria has increased again slightly, according to the PSA. In three of the past twelve months – July, September and October – more than 100 million transactions were carried out each time.
“We are particularly pleased about this highlight, especially in the 40th anniversary year of the ATM card,” said PSA managing director David Ostah. “The steady upward trend also shows how much the use of the card has become part of people's everyday lives”, says Harald Flatscher, also managing director of PSA.
The use of NFC picked up again strongly in 2020 – almost 83 percent of debit card payments were contactless at the end of 2020, and in 2019 it was 73 percent.
In 2020 there was also a “leap in mobile payments” via PSA services. In total, over 1 million virtual ATM cards were activated on Android and Apple smartphones and other media in the past year.
According to the information, the history of the Austrian ATM cards began in 1980. 40 years ago it was initially possible to withdraw cash from ATMs. In 1987, the payment function at point-of-sale terminals came to the bank card. The Austrian bank card has been available worldwide since 1993, and contactless payments and withdrawals with NFC have been possible since 2013.
