The volume of transactions with payment cards of Ukrainian banks in Ukraine and abroad in the second quarter of 2023 amounted to UAH 1.335 trillion, which is 27.7% less than in the first quarter of this year, when a 9% decline was also recorded compared to the previous quarter.
According to the National Bank’s statistics released on Monday, while in the first quarter a larger decline was recorded in cash withdrawals – 14%, while non-cash transactions decreased by only 6.7%, in the second quarter the situation changed: cash withdrawals decreased by 11%, while non-cash transactions decreased by 35.2%.
As a result, the volume of cash withdrawals amounted to UAH 505.4 billion, while non-cash transactions amounted to UAH 829.5 billion, which broke the upward trend in the share of non-cash transactions by volume that had been going on for several years: it fell to 62.1% from 69.4% in the first quarter of this year, dropping immediately below the level of 2021.
The number of transactions with payment cards in the second quarter of this year fell by 13% to 1.843 billion compared to the first quarter. At the same time, the number of cash withdrawals increased by 4% to 132.3 million, while non-cash transactions fell by 14.1% to 1.711 billion.
The National Bank specified that within Ukraine in the second quarter, the volume of cash receipts decreased to UAH 487.8 billion from UAH 501.8 billion in the first quarter, while the volume of non-cash transactions increased to UAH 329.4 billion from UAH 285.7 billion.
In April-June, the number of cash withdrawals in Ukraine increased to 129.7 million from 119.4 million in the first quarter, while non-cash transactions increased from 943.8 million to 1 billion 166.1 million.
According to the NBU, most card transactions by amount and number were made in the retail network (46.4% and 72.6%, respectively). There were 1,242.5 million transactions worth UAH 385.2 billion.
In the second quarter of 2023, card-to-card transfers accounted for a third of the total (32.1%) and almost a tenth by number (8.5%), while payments for goods and services on the Internet accounted for 14.9% by amount and 14.6% by number.
In the reporting period, the average amount of one transaction was UAH 310 (UAH 344 in the first quarter of this year), UAH 1,829 (UAH 2,133) for card-to-card transfers, and UAH 495 (UAH 460) for online payments.
The number of active pos-terminals in the retail and service networks in June increased by 8.3% to 388.1 thousand units, and the number of points of sale and service outlets accepting payment cards increased by 12.2% to 355.9 thousand units.
The ATM network has also been showing a recovery trend since the beginning of the year: the number of ATMs increased by 1.2% to 15.8 thousand since the beginning of the year.
As of June 2023, the total number of issued payment cards in Ukraine reached 110.3 million, which is 1% more than in January this year, including the number of active payment cards with which monthly expenditure transactions were made, which increased by 3% to 47.2 million.
The NBU noted that the total number of contactless payment cards continues to grow: their number in June this year increased by 5% compared to January, and now more than half (57%) of active payment cards in June are contactless cards.
Tokenized payment cards are also popular among Ukrainians, as they provide greater security for payments: their number has increased by 14% since the beginning of the year to 9.7 million, and now their share among all active cards is 21%, compared to 19% in January 2023.
“As a result, only a tenth of transactions (10.6% by amount and 9.4% by number) in the second quarter of this year were carried out in the retail network with physical reading of data from the card carrier. In the first quarter of 2023, the share of such transactions was 12.4% and 11.1%, respectively,” the NBU said.
