- The Brazilian Central Bank released this Tuesday, September 1st, its latest Retail and Card Payment Statistics;
- The card market expanded significantly in 2019, with 123 million credit cards in use in the country, an 18% growth YoY;
- The institution also detected 132 million active debit cards, 14% more than in 2018;
- Internet banking and mobile banking transactions continue on an upward trend, with an increase of 4% and 17%, respectively, compared to 2018.
The Brazilian card market expanded significantly in 2019, with 123 million credit cards in use in the country, an 18% growth in a year-over-year comparison. This is what shows the latest edition of Retail and Card Payment Statistics, released this Tuesday by the Brazilian Central Bank.
Internet banking and mobile banking transactions were specially highlighted as an upward trend, with an increase of 4% and 17%, respectively, compared to 2018. In addition, they accounted for as much as 76% of the total transactions carried out in 2019. The number of self-service terminals in operation, on the other hand, decreased by about 3%, to 171,284 terminals at the end of 2019.
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Regarding debit cards, data from the Central Bank revealed that 2019 recorded 132 million active debit cards, 14% more than in 2018.
In late August, Abecs, the association that represents the electronic payment sector, disclosed that digital purchases made through cards grew 18.4% in Brazil in the first half of 2020. In total, BRL 876.4 billion was spent via cards, of which BRL 173.5 billion was spent on card-not-present purchases, that is how the sector calls the online card transactions.
The volume of contactless payments also grew (330%) and reached a total of BRL 8.3 billion in the first half of this year, according to Abecs.
