Card Usage Increased by 12.4% in the First Half of the Year... Travel and Dining Up with Consumer Recovery

The Share of Contactless Payments Including Mobile Expands to 41.4%
Contact Payments Also Increase with Convenient Mobile Device Touch Methods

With the revival of private consumption in the first half of this year, the usage of credit cards and debit cards increased by 12.4% compared to last year. While contactless payments using mobile devices such as smartphones continued to rise, face-to-face payments also showed an increasing trend due to the lifting of social distancing measures.

According to the domestic payment trends data for the first half of this year released by the Bank of Korea on the 28th, the average daily usage of payment cards reached 3 trillion won, up 12.4% from the same period last year. Both credit card (13.1%) and debit card (9.0%) usage increased due to the recovery of private consumption. Additionally, some local governments issued COVID-19 disaster relief funds via prepaid cards, causing prepaid card usage to surge by 78.1% in the first half.

Due to the impact of COVID-19, the usage of contactless payments through mobile devices averaged 1.1 trillion won per day (provisional), increasing by 9.6% compared to the same period last year. However, as social distancing measures were eased, face-to-face payment usage also rose by 8.6% to an average of 1.5 trillion won per day (provisional).

The share of contactless payments in total payments recorded 41.4% in the first half of this year, expanding compared to 38.8% in 2020, 41.2% in the first half of last year, and 40.4% in the second half of last year.

The Bank of Korea explained, "Not only mobile device-based contactless payments but also face-to-face payments using mobile devices instead of physical cards at payment terminals continued to expand."

The proportion of card-based simple payment services used in payments through mobile devices remained high due to convenience preferences, increasing to 45.1%.

In the first half, credit card usage increased in most sectors such as travel (58.4%), restaurants (20.0%), entertainment and culture (17.3%), and e-commerce (16.8%). On the other hand, usage decreased in automobiles (-8.6%) and furniture and home appliances (-6.1%).

Account transfers through small-amount payment networks increased by 9.7% as preference for non-face-to-face financial transactions continued, but payment amounts via bills and checks decreased by 7.7% due to a reduction in the issuance of electronic bills. The usage of cashier's checks declined by 9.7% due to increased use of 50,000 won bills, and bills and similar instruments shrank by 7.2%.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.