Card Payments Exceed 2.3 Trillion Lira in January: Significant Rise in Contactless Transactions

Growth in Card Numbers Continues The Interbank Card Center (BKM) has released card payment data for January.
According to the figures, the number of credit cards in Turkey reached 143.4 million, debit cards hit 210.9 million, and prepaid cards totaled 110.6 million.
Compared to the same period last year, the number of credit cards increased by 10% and debit cards by 8%, while the number of prepaid cards saw a 2% decline.
The total number of cards grew by 6% annually, reaching 464.9 million units.
45% Growth in Payment Volumes In January, the total payment amount made with credit, debit, and prepaid cards increased by 45% year-on-year, reaching 2.326 trillion lira.
Credit cards accounted for the lion's share with approximately 2 trillion lira, while debit cards accounted for 322.8 billion lira and prepaid cards for 7.5 billion lira.
The growth rate in payment volumes was 46% for credit cards and 55% for debit cards, whereas prepaid cards experienced a 77% decrease.
The total number of card payments rose by 8% to 1.7 billion transactions.
Of these, 1 billion 9.6 million were made via credit cards, 664.7 million via debit cards, and 31.8 million via prepaid cards.
Internet and Contactless Payments on the Rise Card payments made over the internet increased by 42% compared to the same month last year, reaching 687.4 billion lira.
The share of internet payments within the total card payment volume was recorded at 30%.
In terms of transaction volume, internet payments rose by 7% to 245.9 million.
Interest in contactless payment technologies also continues to grow.
The number of contactless payments made with cards increased by 9% to 1.1246 billion.
The total value of contactless payments rose by 49% to 751.8 billion lira.
The data revealed that in January, 4 out of every 5 in-store card payments were performed contactlessly.