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The
2015 World Payments Report gave an estimate for transactions
last year and detailed numbers for the year before.
It showed people in Finland made an average of 450 non-cash
payments in 2013, more than any other nationality, thanks to
innovations in payments system, and a strong economy and private
spending. Its cold winters also encourage the use of e-commerce.
The report said people in the United States were next most
active, making 390 non-cash transactions on average in 2013,
followed by the inhabitants of the Netherlands, Australia,
Denmark, South Korea and Sweden.
Payments by cards, direct debits and credit transfers are
booming as people turn to mobile banking, contactless cards and
other innovations rather than cash.
The report, a joint venture between Capgemini and Royal Bank of
Scotland, said further advances could come from blockchain
technology -- a growing, decentralized database that allows
secure digital transfers.
"Blockchain has the potential, in a simple way, to disrupt a lot
of the payment infrastructure and the way we conduct business,"
said Teresa Connors, head of client engagement of payment
services at RBS, saying the architecture could offer security,
an audit trail, transparency and speed.
The World Payments Report estimated 390 billion non-cash payment
transactions were made last year, up 9 percent from 2013 and up
45 percent from 2009.
China's population made fewer than 50 non-cash transactions per
person on average in 2013, but that was up 37 percent from the
year before. China's growth is being driven by a rising
penetration of mobile phones in smaller towns and steps by
authorities to accelerate the roll-out of point-of-sale
equipment to merchants as well as opening the domestic card
payments market to competition.
While card payments rise, the decline of cheques looks set to
continue.
Cheque transactions fell 11 percent in 2013 from the year before
and accounted for 4 percent of non-cash payments in Europe and
13 percent in North America, down from 7 percent and 22 percent,
respectively, in 2009.
The report forecast fewer than 5 billion cheques would be
written in 2025, compared with about 25 billion in 2013.
(Reporting by Steve Slater; Editing by Mark Potter)
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