Bank of Ireland sees huge surge in contactless payments
Over four million contactless transactions recorded in one month
Bank of Ireland has released their latest figures on contactless activity showing a 142% increase of customer usage of contactless over just a one year period. In February alone, there were over four million (4.25M) contactless transactions, jumping from 1.7M recorded in February 2016.
Surprisingly it is not generation Z that are most likely to favour contactless, 30-39 year olds across all regions are the biggest users of contactless. Expectedly when it came to regional breakdown, Dublin dominates the volume of contactless payments (43%) with the North West, South East and South West all on an even par at 19%.
Males and females are on a relative even kilter when it comes to their use of ‘tapping’ with males slightly tilting the balance at 51%. This figures increases slightly when taking into account transaction amounts (52%) and transaction numbers (53%).
The younger generation, 15-19 year olds have embraced contactless with the number of customers increasing almost threefold (by 290%). Transactions have also significantly increased (383%) and this post-millennial generation have increased the amounts they are spending on contactless payments, having quadrupled (406%).
The majority of customers that favour contactless payments are also more likely to use Bank of Ireland’s online banking service 365 online, with 78% of customers using contactless and registered on 365 online. The increase and reliance on online methods has subsequently decreased cheque usage, with nearly a decrease of one-third (27%) of cheques issued by Bank of Ireland from February compared to the previous year.
Commenting on the figures, John O’Beirne, Head of Products at Bank Ireland said: “Our latest figures demonstrate that customers are increasingly favouring what is seen as the most efficient method of payment for items below €30. The rate of contactless usage is increasing at a considerable rate and we can expect the figures to continue to increase across all demographics in the coming months.
“Businesses have also hugely benefited from increased contactless activity as they can process more transactions, benefit from reduced cash handling costs and are at a lesser chance for exposure to theft.
“Bank of Ireland is committed to delivering user-friendly digital solutions for our customers and enabling consumers to conduct their banking at a time and location that works for them. We provide multichannel distribution platforms with 65% of customer transactions conducted via mobile or tablet and three in four customers are now digitally active.”
Further information on contactless:
- 20% of all Visa face to face transactions in Ireland are contactless
- There is very strong growth in business contactless usage among Bank of Ireland customers with 170% growth in the number of contactless transactions on business debit cards year on year
- Contactless is now also available across Bank of Ireland’s credit card suite of products (business and consumer), with 170% growth in the number of contactless transactions on business debit cards year on year
- BOIPA has fully enabled contactless fleet of terminals in Ireland, helping to support the infrastructure for more convenient and cheaper payments for Bank of Ireland customers