In the second year of the pandemic, the number of card transactions reported by payment service providers in Germany rose again significantly compared with the previous year, increasing by 10% to more than 8 billion payments. The total value of card payments increased by 8% to €393 billion. The average value of a card payment remained virtually unchanged at just under €48. These findings are shown by the Deutsche Bundesbank’s latest payments statistics.

In the 2021 reporting year, German payment service providers recorded a total of 27 billion cashless payment transactions (+5%) with a value of €65 trillion (+8%) with non-banks. The values of credit transfers, direct debits and card payments each rose by around 8% on the year. In terms of the value of the transactions, 94% (just under €62 trillion) was accounted for by credit transfers, making them once again the dominating cashless payment instrument. At €3 trillion, the value of direct debits made up only 5% of the transaction value; however, at 43%, they accounted for almost half of all cashless payment transactions. Cheque and e-money payments made by domestic payment service providers for their customers accounted for comparatively small shares of total cashless payment transactions.

The number of cash withdrawals with cards issued in Germany at ATMs operated by domestic payment service providers declined by 10% to 1.4 billion withdrawals in 2021. However, their value fell by only 3% to €331 billion.

Detailed results of the statistics on payments and securities trading can be found on the Bundesbank’s website.