Smartphone payments still on the rise in 2023

The use of smartphones for payments has increased again in 2023. Nearly four in ten debit card payments at points-of-sale at the end of last year were made with a mobile phone or smartwatch. One year earlier, the figure was three in ten. Other payments, such as in web shops and between family and friends, are also increasingly made with a mobile banking app.

Strong rise in use of debit and credit cards in public transport

Since June 2023, you can check in and out with a contactless debit or credit card in all Dutch public transport, even with a virtual card on a smartphone or smartwatch. This payment option is firmly embraced: three out of ten travelers who check in for the basic fare (without discounts) now do so with a payment card, phone or smartwatch.

30% of passengers who check in for a basic fare use payment cards

Steady increase in online payments

By the end of 2023 almost three-quarters of all payments in online stores were made with iDEAL and almost one in ten with a credit card. The use of iDEAL for online payments has increased by more than 10% in 2023. Over 95% of those iDEAL payments are approved with a mobile banking app.

Payment traffic increase across the board

Across the board, the number of payment transactions has increased. Instant payments, for example, increased by +8.5% and payments at points-of-sale by +6.5%. The split between electronic and cash payments at points-of-sale appears to remain the same in 2023*. As in the previous two years, 20% of all point-of-sale payments were made in cash.

“The payment system has fully recovered from the COVID pandemic,” says  Gijs Boudewijn, general manager of the Dutch Payments Association. “The coming year has many new developments in store, to keep cash readily available and accessible, to further harmonize payments within the EU, to be less dependent on non-European providers and to properly safeguard the high availability and reliability of the Dutch payments infrastructure. The ever increasing digitization of payments also requires a strong focus on accessibility and inclusion, for people who cannot follow the pace.”

View the full fact sheet on the collective payment system in 2023

* The share of cash payments at points-of-sale (POS) compared to the total number of POS-payments is a preliminary estimate based on partial measurements. Final figures will follow in April, in the 2023 Betalen aan de Kassa report.