Payment Methods

Retail Payments Report

October

2024

Published on Nov 29, 2024

Monthly report that analyzes the state and evolution of retail means of payment.

The month of analysis is October 2024, except for withdrawals, credit cards, debit cards and transport cards that the information corresponds to the month of September 2024 and prepaid cards that include the data available as of September 2024.

Money remittances (immediate “push” transfers): reported a growth in amounts of 65.4% y.o.y.

  • In pesos: 591 million transactions were registered for $ 52.4 billion, which imply year-on-year increases of 65.4% and 22.5%, in amounts and amounts respectively. 68.8% had a CVU as their origin and/or destination.
  • In foreign currency: 2.3 million operations (149.6% YoY) were registered for USD 4,082 million (166.7% YoY).

Money inflows (immediate “pull” transfers): 40.9 million operations reached

  • 40.9 million transfers were made for $ 2.2 billion, which represents an increase of 6.7% in amounts and 10.2% in amounts, compared to September.

Payments by transfer (PCT): the interoperable QR reached 52.3 million transactions.

  • Interoperable: 56.4 million operations were carried out (62.4% YoY) for a total of $791.3 billion (-3.9% YoY).
    • QR: 92.6% started with interoperable QRs, representing 52.3 million payments (144.2% YoY) for $715.1 billion (103.5% YoY). 69.2% were made by customers who used their demand accounts and 30.8% their payment accounts. Likewise, 49.8% of businesses credited demand accounts and 50.2% in payment accounts.
      Currently, 65 interoperable digital wallets are registered with the BCRA.
    • With random keys: 7.4% used a token for their startup; These are 4.2 million operations (-29.3% YoY) for $76.3 billion (-41.3% YoY).

Payment accounts and funds invested through PSPCPs:

In September, out of a total of 51.5 million accounts, 14.5 million payment accounts were registered with a balance totaling 405.5 billion pesos, while the balances invested in FCI of money reached 3.1 trillion pesos. Both concepts, considered together, represent 5.35% of the total deposits of the private sector, which was $ 65.1 billion in the aforementioned month. At present, 168 PSPCPs are included in the registry.

Direct debit:

12.5 million debits (8.5% YoY) were made for $1.3 trillion (3.1% YoY), with an effectiveness rate that reached 54.6%.

Checks: 76.3% of the amounts cleared correspond to ECHEQ.

  • 5.5 million checks (physical and electronic) totaling $15 billion were cleared. ECHEQ’s share of the total number of cleared persons reached 50.8% in quantities (2.8 million electronic checks) and 76.3% in amount ($11.5 billion).
  • Rejections for reasons of “insufficient funds”: the ratio to the total compensated reached 0.65% in quantities and 0.5% in amounts.

Cards: the use of debit cards remains above credit cards.

  • Debit: 234.5 million transactions were made for $4.6 trillion, with variations of 6.7% YoY in amounts and -4.2% YoY in amounts.
  • Credit: year-on-year variations of 20.9% in amounts and 6.4% in amounts are observed, with 162.3 million payments being made for $6.7 trillion.
  • Prepaid card: 42.3 million payments were made for $616.6 billion, representing increases of 97.3% and 65.9% YoY, in amounts and amounts respectively.

Prepaid transport cards:

394.6 million trips were made (-5.5% YoY) using the SUBE card, totaling $123.4 billion (118.2% YoY).

Electronic Invoicing for MSMEs (FCEM):

In the month of analysis, 88.8% of the operations were carried out in pesos, entering the open circulation system (SCA) 116.7 thousand invoices for $ 1.1 billion.

Extractions:

90% of withdrawals are made from ATMs.

  • ATMs: 83.3 million withdrawals were made from the 17,056 ATMs for a total of $2.8 billion, with the average number of withdrawals at each ATM being 4,883. The average withdrawal amount reached $33.3k.
  • Extra-bank debit cards: 5.6 million for $223.5 billion, with an average amount of $40 thousand. 
  • Extrabank from intra PSPCP (“closed loop”) payment accounts: 3.3 million for $131.8 billion, with the average amount being $40.6 thousand. 

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