Digital payments are on the rise in Germany. In 2017, more than 21 billion cashless payments were made in Germany – around 3% more than in the previous year. There was an especially large increase in the number of card payments, which rose by almost 11% in 2017. Overall, almost 4.5 billion payments were made by card in Germany in 2017. The average value of a card payment was €62. 

Direct debit still very popular 

Direct debit remained the most popular non-cash means of payment in Germany. More than 10 billion direct debit transactions averaging €372 were conducted last year, amounting to around 121 million more than in the previous year. The number of credit transfers also grew slightly to 6.3 billion. Likewise, the number of outward transfers rose by nearly 15% in 2017. A large proportion of these credit transfers were made to Germany’s neighbours Austria, France and the Netherlands. Cross-border transactions now represent almost 3% of all credit transfers.

Decrease in cash withdrawals

The number of cash withdrawals at ATMs using cards from domestic payment service providers decreased slightly, but the average amount withdrawn rose by €5 to €179. One reason for this is that the number of ATMs is continuing to decline, falling by 1.5% to around 58,000 machines.

For the Bundesbank’s payment statistics, which are collected on an annual basis, all banks and other payment service providers resident in Germany report the number of accounts held with them and the related transactions made by non-payment service providers.