More Aussies ditching cash as 75% of all payments done through cards
Australians are increasingly going cashless with 75% of all payments now done with cards, compared to just 26% in 2007, according to the Australian Banking Association (ABA).
In ABA’s ‘Bank On It – Customer Trends 2023’ report, released today, the organisation also found mobile wallet usage has skyrocketed with some 15 million cards registered to mobile wallets in 2022, up 760% from just over two million cards in 2018.
Australian Banking Association’s Bank On It – Customer Trends 2023 report
The report valued mobile wallet transactions at $93 billion in 2022, up from $746 million in 2018.
“Australia has witnessed a phenomenal shift in customer banking and payment preferences in recent years,” ABA chief executive Anna Bligh said.
“As a nation we are early adopters of new payment options. Globally, Australians are now at the forefront of adopting cashless payment methods and it’s clear these recent technology leaps are now permanent consumer preferences.”
The ABA also found some 98.9% of bank interactions are done digitally, seeing a 21% increase in online banking interactions, a 31% increase in app interactions, and a 46% decline in branch interactions from 2019 to 2022.
Bligh added that banks are also responding to customer’s growing preference for digital banking, with technology investments increasing eight-fold since 2005 from $3.5 billion to $28.5 billion.
“As customers increasingly shop, pay, or are paid digitally, they also expect their banking and payment services to be available digitally in a format that is convenient, fast, cost-effective and secure,” she said.
“While customers drive these rapid shifts to digital banking and payments, there will continue to be a role for face-to-face banking services.”
Sadly for most Aussies they are paying a 1.5% surcharge on much of that expenditure which works out at hundreds of dollars per head per year.
In the EU and the UK credit and debit surcharges are illegal and should be here too.
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