BKM releases credit card data: Significant increase in contactless and online payments

The Interbank Card Center (BKM) has released its card payment data for October. Accordingly, as of October, the number of credit cards in Turkey reached 127.8 million, the number of debit cards reached 193.1 million, and the number of prepaid cards reached 109.5 million. Compared to October 2023, there was a 12 percent increase in the number of credit cards, a 4 percent increase in the number of debit cards, and a 28 percent increase in the number of prepaid cards. The total number of cards reached 430.4 million, showing a 12 percent increase compared to the same period last year.

CARD PAYMENT AMOUNT

The total payment amount made with credit cards, debit cards, and prepaid cards in October increased by 78 percent compared to the same period last year, reaching 1,488.0 billion TL.

While 1,252.6 billion TL of card payments were made with credit cards, 204.8 billion TL were made with debit cards, and 30.6 billion TL were made with prepaid cards.

The growth rate for payments made with credit cards compared to the same period last year was 83 percent, while it was 49 percent for payments made with debit cards and 97 percent for payments made with prepaid cards.

NUMBER OF CARD PAYMENT TRANSACTIONS

The total number of payments made with credit cards, debit cards, and prepaid cards in October increased by 12 percent compared to the same period last year, reaching 1.63 billion transactions.

While 924.0 million of these card payments were made with credit cards, 575.5 million were made with debit cards, and 127.7 million were made with prepaid cards.

The growth rate in the number of payments made with credit cards was 16 percent compared to the same period last year, while it was 5 percent for payments made with debit cards and 27 percent for payments made with prepaid cards.

ONLINE CARD PAYMENT AMOUNT

Online card payments increased by 82 percent compared to the same period last year, rising to 432.1 billion TL. The share of online card payments in the total was 29 percent.

NUMBER OF ONLINE CARD PAYMENTS

The number of online card payments increased by 12 percent compared to the same period last year, rising to 236.5 million transactions. The share of online card payments in the total is 15 percent.

CONTACTLESS PAYMENT AMOUNT

The number of contactless payments made with cards increased by 20 percent compared to the same period last year, reaching 1,079.2 million transactions. The contactless payment amount increased by 93 percent compared to the same period last year, reaching 472.6 billion TL. In October, 4 out of every 5 card payments made in-store were contactless.