RBR’s new report Global Payments Cards Data and Forecasts to 2023, shows that the number of merchant outlets accepting card payments worldwide grew by 13% in 2017 to reach 69,2 million at the end of the year. The number is forecast to grow at an average of 8% per year between the end of 2017 and the end of 2023 to reach 111,7 million, according to RBR.
The two least developed regions in terms of acceptance, Asia Pacific ans Central and Eastern Europe were also those which grew the fastest, driven in part by new regulation. For example, in India the government has placed caps on terminal charges and has also put pressure on banks – many of which are state owned – to increase efforts to recruit merchants. In Czech Republic, merchants are now required to keep electronic records of sales, and accepting cards at EFTPOS terminals allows them to do so efficiently.
„Regulations on interchange fees are also having a knock-on effect on merchant service charges. As the fees which acquires have to pay to issuers fall, merchants are more confident about refusing to pay higher fees themselves. This then encourages merchants to begin accepting cards when they previously reluctant. This is the most commonly the case in the EU, where interchange fees were capped in 2015. It also applies in Brasil, where a cap on debit card interchange fees was announced in March 2018, and in Malaysia, where interchange fees have been capped since 2015 as part of the country’s Payment Card Reform Framework.”, acording to the press release.
Global ATM installations set to fall first time as demand for cash drops in China
In 2017, as the ATM industry celebrated its 50th year, the number of ATMs installed worldwide peaked at 3,28 million with a fall in installations predicted over the next few years. According to RBR, the number of ATMs installed worldwide is set to drop off gradually to 3,23 million by the end of 2023.
The global figure is, however, skewed by China, and ATM markets in the majority of countries will still expand. „In fact, if China is excluded, the number of ATMs in the rest of the world is projected to grow, with the total across all other countries rising from 2,5 million to 2,7 million.”, according to RBR.
China is by far the largest ATM market and home to almost a quarter of the world’s ATMs. After years of explosive growth, the ATM sector in the country went abruptly into reverse in 2017, with deployers withdrawing 20,000 ATMs.
„China’s burgeoning middle class has embraced digital payments enthusiastically, and as demand for cash falls, the number of ATMs in the country is expected to continue dropping. The move away from cash, while perhaps most starkly exemplified by China and the rise of mobile payment app giants, will also contribute to falling ATM numbers in several western European countries, although here it is payment cards and bank branch closures which explain the decline.” says RBR.
Nevertheless, cash usage remains strong in many parts of the world, and this will be an important driver of growth in many other Asian markets, the Middle East and Africa, and Latin America. Bangladeshi deployers, for example, are projected to increase their country’s ATM total by over 60% by the end of 2023, as the government pushes for greater financial inclusion and banks expand into more rural areas.
Banking 4.0 – „how was the experience for you”
„So many people are coming here to Bucharest, people that I see and interact on linkedin and now I get the change to meet them in person. It was like being to the Football World Cup but this was the World Cup on linkedin in payments and open banking.”
Many more interesting quotes in the video below:
