According to the 2024 Payment Systems Report released today, instant transfers increased by 46.4% in the number of transactions and by 47.2% in value last year.
However, the Bank of Portugal states that “despite the sharp growth, these operations continued to have a minor share in the total operations processed,” accounting for only 0.4% of the total transactions and 3.6% of the value.
Instant transfers are distinct from regular transfers (technically known as ‘credit’ transfers) as the money becomes immediately available in the recipient’s account without the need for waiting for one or several days. However, they had been underutilized because not all financial entities offered them, and primarily due to higher charges.
Since January of this year, banks can no longer charge more for instant transfers than for regular transfers, which is expected to lead to considerable growth and gradually all customers preferring them for convenience.
In 2024, cards remained the most commonly used payment method, representing 89.5% of the total number of operations processed in the SICOI (Interbank Clearing System). On average, 11.5 million card payments were made per day.
For the second consecutive year, ‘contactless’ payments accounted for more than half of the total card purchases (56.7%).
According to the BdP, ‘contactless’ purchases (a technology that allows payment with a card without inserting or entering a PIN) are mainly used in retail (59% of the total value of ‘contactless’ purchases was in this sector) and in the hospitality industry (17.6% of the total value).
By the end of 2024, there were 30 million active cards issued by companies based in Portugal (an increase of 10% from 2023), with an average of 2.8 payment cards per inhabitant. Of the active cards, 25.5 million had ‘contactless’ technology.
In total, in 2024, SICOI recorded 4.7 billion transactions, amounting to 776.7 billion euros (an increase of 11.2% in quantity and 4.9% in value compared to 2023).
According to the BdP, the growth in retail payments in Portugal reflects “the growth of economic activity.”
