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Digital payments in Europe - Statistics & Facts
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https://www.ecb.europa.eu/paym/retail/html/index.en.html https://www.bis.org/statistics/payment_stats.htm https://www.worldbank.org/404_response.htm
Explore the evolving digital payments landscape in Europe
The digital payment solutions market in Europe is pulsating, driven as much by increasingly cashless transactions within the region as by an increasing presence of FinTech services. In the digital payments market in Europe, valued at close to €200 billion in 2024, the growth may be further accelerated at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10–12% over the next five years. The growth is driven by several matters, like mobile wallets gaining ground, widespread use of contactless payments, and the move away from cash to digital payments. By 2029, the market is expected to have surpassed the €350 billion marker, which will strongly place Europe as one of the largest and most dynamic in the global digital payment markets.
One such stimulus for growth can find organizations shifting toward contactless payments. The global contactless payment market is anticipated to grow from approximately $5.5 billion to $15.3 billion in volumes between 2020 and 2025, thereby clocking a plateaued CAGR of 22.6%. Europe holds a strong stand in the niche being considered. More than 50% of all payments in the UK and Germany are cards from contactless payments. In the UK, over 85% of card payments are presently contactless—a trend that has been supported by customer demand for convenience together with the encouragement of transactions almost always being low-value and hence requiring no PIN authorization. Additionally, German networks send 40% of eligible PayWave transactions annually, with payment amounts exceeding 30 billion euros. The primary reason for this is the increased use of NFC-enabled cards.
By 2024, with the expected transaction volume to reach €100 billion, the mobile wallet market in Europe will continue to contribute greatly to digital currency penetration. Participants such as Apple Pay and Google Pay, followed by local solutions like Swish from Sweden and Vipps from Norway, will be taking the lead in the approaching five years. Specifically, countries with high smartphone adoption rates, such as Sweden, where both retirees and peasants prefer mobile banking, and U.S. services, where 80 percent of adults engage in mobile payments, are leading the way in the popularity of mobile wallets. Projections indicate that the number of active mobile wallet owners will rise to over 400 million by 2025, as the reliance on smartphones for daily payments continues to rise.
In the area of cross-border payments, the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) has made all transactions easier in the European Union. With the SEPA Instant Credit Transfer service, a clear necessity, the uptake is now going crazy, which has accounted for more than 30% of all credit transfers in the Eurozone that have been processed instantly, up from just 6% last year, 2020. That is especially significant for trading entities and consumers who function on cross-border roads within the EU because of SEPA's copious cost and time savings concerning transferring money across borders. Let alone a total volume of about €3 trillion in cross-border payments within the EU by 2025—all supported by pressing demand from consumers and the growing wave of e-commerce trading over country borders.
The rapid adoption of mostly contactless payments, mobile wallets, and blockchain has revitalized Europe's digital payments. Sweden, the UK, and Germany are spearheading this trend, and the regulatory initiatives of PSD2 and SEPA are expected to stimulate further innovation and cross-border transactions. States work with private actors in the fintech sector to create payment systems that are secure, efficient, and convenient for users in this ever-growing digital credit pillar Europe is on.
Blockchain input and cryptocurrencies now fully penetrate the European digital payments market. Switzerland, Estonia, and Malta are introducing blockchain-based money transfer systems increasingly along with cryptocurrencies. Furthermore, the European digital payment ecosystem (Amt) describes the high-level, ongoing evolution influenced by technology, new rules, and customers' shifting preferences toward simpler, safer payment platforms in more detail.
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