Retail Payments October 2024

Release date:

The Reserve Bank has updated the retail payments data that it publishes. Changes include:

  • more detailed data on the use of newer payments technology, including series on contactless card and mobile wallet payments.

    These data show for October that by number, 44 per cent of device-present transactions acquired in Australia were made by mobile wallets, 54 per cent were made by contactless cards, while the remaining 2 per cent were card-insert transactions. For device-not-present transactions acquired in Australia, 85 per cent were made with cards while 15 per cent were made with mobile wallets. Device-present transactions made with contactless technology had a smaller average transaction size of around $46. In contrast, the average card-insert transaction was around $155.

    For cards issued in Australia, around 39 per cent of debit card transactions and 33 per cent of credit and charge card transactions were made using mobile wallets (these data include device-present and device-not-present transactions). Around 46 per cent of Australian debit cards and 40 per cent of credit and charge cards were enrolled in mobile wallets.

  • expanded data coverage to include large payment facilitators. The expanded group of reporting institutions are estimated to account for over 90 per cent of the total value of card transactions acquired in Australia, and over 95 per cent of the total value of card transactions for Australian-issued cards.
  • expanded data on prepaid cards.

    • For more information on the individual series, see the Change Notice, the accompanying Notes in each Statistical Table or the updated Explanatory Notes for Completing Retail Payments Statistics Forms.

    The tables below present a summary of the latest retail payments statistics.

    Value of Retail Payments
    Value
    ($ billion)    		 Growth
    (Per cent)
    Monthly Year-ended
    Oct 2024 Sep 2024 Oct 2024 Oct 2023 Oct 2024
    ATM withdrawals 8.9 0.5 −0.8 −0.5 −0.1
    Total card purchases on Australian-issued cards 87.0 2.0 −1.6 6.2 5.3
    of which: Credit and charge cards 36.0 −0.4 −0.3 3.2 5.2
    of which: Debit cards 51.0 3.6 −2.5 8.4 5.4
    Total balances outstanding on credit and charge cards 41.1 0.1 −0.1 3.8 0.7
    of which: Balances accruing interest 19.5 0.3 0.6 2.9 4.9
    New Payments Platform transactions 169.1 1.2 −1.3 22.0 20.5
    Cheque payments 16.2 −9.0 −3.6 −22.9 −20.7

    Source: RBA

    Number of Retail Payments
    Number
    (Million)    		 Growth
    (Per cent)
    Monthly Year-ended
    Oct 2024 Sep 2024 Oct 2024 Oct 2023 Oct 2024
    ATM withdrawals 28.7 −1.5 −1.0 −4.4 −2.3
    Total card purchases on Australian-issued cards 1299.7 2.4 −1.6 6.3 2.8
    of which: Credit and charge cards 311.9 −1.0 −0.2 2.8 2.3
    of which: Debit cards 987.8 3.4 −2.0 7.4 3.0
    Cards on issue 65.1 0.1 0.2 3.8 2.7
    of which: Credit and charge cards 16.7 −1.2 −0.3 0.6 −5.2
    of which: Debit cards 48.4 0.6 0.4 5.0 5.7
    New Payments Platform transactions 138.1 −0.9 −0.2 20.1 13.1
    Cheque payments 1.2 −2.5 1.9 −22.7 −28.5

    Source: RBA

    Total Average Merchant Fees for Debit, Credit and Charge Cards
    September quarter 2024
      Domestic cards -
    device present
    (Per cent)    		 Domestic cards -
    device not present
    (Per cent)    		 International cards
    (Per cent)    		 Total
    (Per cent)
    Debit
    eftpos 0.32 - - 0.30
    Mastercard 0.51 0.46 - 0.52
    Visa 0.46 0.41 - 0.49
    Credit
    American Express 1.34 1.31 1.64 1.33
    Diners Club 2.51 1.61 1.94 1.70
    Mastercard 0.84 0.79 2.42 0.90
    Visa 0.85 0.75 2.53 0.91
    Source: RBA

    All levels and growth rates are seasonally adjusted, except for those relating to cards on issue. The data are not adjusted for the effects of breaks in the series. Historical levels and growth rates for the retail payments statistics may be revised due to the resubmission of data by some reporting institutions and the re-estimation of seasonal factors.

    For further information about the Retail Payments Statistics collection, including links to relevant statistical tables, refer to Payments Data.