One of the two payments is contactless

Last year, 1 TL of every 4 TL of card payments was made online. According to the data announced by Bankalararası Kart Merkezi A.Ş. (BKM) for 2021, the highest increase in card payments was seen in the airline and accommodation sectors last year. While the number of contactless payments reached 3 times, the number of online card payments increased by 75% to 455 billion TL. The amount of card cash withdrawals, on the other hand, grew by 17 percent and reached TL 1.12 trillion. In 2021, an average of 4.7 billion TL card payments were made per day, while 3.3 billion TL cash withdrawals were made. The highest number of card payments over the internet was made on November 26, the Great Friday, with 3.1 billion TL. On December 31, a contactless payment record was broken with 18 million transactions made with 10 million cards for Christmas shopping. While the number of contactless payments increased 2 times and the payment amount increased 3 times compared to the previous year, 1 out of every 2 in-store payments was made contactless. The number of contactless payments made with cards increased by 116 percent to 3.73 billion, while the number of contactless payments increased by 176 percent to 289.6 billion TL. The day with the highest card payment amount during the year was Monday, and the time interval was between 15.00 and 16.00.

A minimum of three cards per person

While the number of credit cards increased by 11 percent to 83.8 million, the number of debit cards increased by 4 percent to 150.1 million, while the number of prepaid cards increased by 32 percent to 57.1 million. Thus, the total number of cards increased by 10 percent to approximately 291 million. In this field, Turkey was the country with the highest number of cards in Europe.

Cash withdrawals from credit cards increased by 56 percent

Last year, the number of payments made with credit cards increased by 47 percent to 1 trillion 406 billion TL, payments made with debit cards increased by 55 percent to 279.8 billion TL, and the number of payments made with prepaid cards increased by 211 percent to 26.5 billion TL. Last year, an average of 24.2 million daily payment transactions and 4.7 billion TL of payments were made. The average payment amount per transaction, on the other hand, increased by 15 percent to 194 TL in 2021. The number of cash withdrawals made with credit cards increased by 56 percent annually to 151.3 billion TL, the number of cash withdrawals with debit cards increased by 13 percent to 1 trillion 25 billion TL, and the number of cash withdrawals with prepaid cards increased by 55 percent to 18.6 billion TL. The total amount of card cash withdrawals grew by 17 percent to 1 trillion 195 billion TL. The average cash withdrawal amount per transaction increased by 12 percent and reached 867 TL.

During the Eid-al-Adha, animal slaughter payments were made by card

Last year, the highest increase in card payments was seen on airlines, which contracted in 2020 due to the pandemic. Card payments in the airline sector increased by 135% and reached 41.3 billion TL, followed by accommodation with 127%, jewelry with 120%, travel agencies with 98%, and public/tax payments with 86%. Last year, the highest card payment amount was 8.8 billion TL on December 31st, while the highest card cash withdrawal amount was 10 billion TL on July 19, Eid-al-Adha day. In the sectoral ranking according to the size of the card payment amount, market-food payments took the top spot with a size of 490.5 billion TL. This sector was followed by clothing with 138.9 billion TL, electronic goods with 133.4 billion TL, and fuel oil with 118.3 billion TL.