Press release

girocard continues to grow - almost three quarters of payments are contactless

Frankfurt am Main, February 16, 2022: Last year, girocard a total of around 5.9 billion transactions, an increase of around 8.0 percent (2020: 5.5 billion transactions). Compared to the previous year, turnover rose by around 7.2 percent to €253 billion (2020: €236 billion). This is shown by the latest statistics from the German Banking Industry Committee, confirming the positive trend of the last decade. Despite far-reaching pandemic-related restrictions on brick-and-mortar retail over the course of the year, girocard showed significant girocard and further expanded its use at store checkouts. The number of acceptance points also saw its largest increase in more than ten years.

Contactless payment was also the driving force behind this development in 2021. While around 63 percent of payments in the girocard system were contactless at the beginning of the year, this figure rose to around 73 percent by the end of 2021. Contactless payment in the girocard system using card, smartphone, or smartwatch has thus become established in customers' everyday lives.

Acceptance girocard retail sector strongly in retail sector as well: in 2021, there were up to 973,000 active girocard terminals in the field each month. Compared to the previous year, this represents an increase of around 7.7 percent and is the largest percentage growth in payment points in more than ten years. This shows that Germany's most widely used debit card is particularly attractive for brick-and-mortar retailers. girocard offers merchants girocard terms and conditions with a payment guarantee. Customers benefit from particularly broad, reliable acceptance girocard local stores.

In order to continue to offer a competitive, attractive product in the future, further innovations are being driven forward. The focus of further developments will be on the digital girocard in particular. The banks and Sparkassen will also provide their customers with good solutions for cross-border payments with their girocard in the future.