Cash is no longer king. Or at least its crown is now being threatened by our love of plastic, with the value of debit card transactions set to exceed the amount withdrawn from ATMs in the Republic for the first time this year.
The total number of debit card payments rose by 13.4 per cent during 2014, according to new figures from Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI), the group which represents the State's banking sector.
Over the course of last year, 386 million individual debit card transactions, with a value of €19.9 billion, were recorded.
At the same time, €20.3 billion in cash was withdrawn from ATMs - or an average of €56 million per day, representing a 0.5 per cent decline from the previous year.
These trends have been constant in recent years. The average annual increase in the value of debit card transactions between 2010 and 2014 was 14.7 per cent, while the average annual decrease in ATM withdrawals was 2.2 per cent over the same period.
Contactless payments
The BPFI said there was significant potential for further migration away from cash to cards this year, particularly when it comes to contactless payments, given the increasing availability and use of contactless cards and related infrastructure.
By 2014, personal card payments were equivalent to 33 per cent of personal consumption expenditure, based on figures from the Central Statistics Office, up from 19 per cent in 2005.
While there are a number of indicators pointing to a shift away from cash to cards, cash still remains the most common consumer payment method in the State. However, reliance on cash for low-value transactions is likely to lessen in the coming year with the wider availability of contactless cards.
