Banking News

Contactless Payments Accelerate in DACH Region

(15 September 2021 – Europe) More than three quarters of cashless transactions in Germany, Austria and Switzerland are now contactless, a significant advancement from pre-pandemic figures of just 40 percent.

Until recently the DACH region was heavily reliant on cash and invoicing but has experienced a dramatic transformation in contactless adoption over the last two years.

In June 2019, overall contactless adoption in the region was at just 40 percent, according to figures from payment processor Nets. The average contactless rate is now 77 percent in Germany, 82 percent in Austria and 80 percent in Switzerland.

"The pandemic has significantly accelerated a steadily growing trend in the Dach region,” says Robert Hoffmann, CEO of Nets Merchant Services. “It was inevitable that Germany, Austria and Switzerland would ultimately achieve high levels of contactless payment adoption, but without this catalyst, it would have taken years to reach where it is today."

Such high levels of overall contactless adoption put the DACH region on a level field with the Nordics, which, despite being a highly digitised society, has also seen significant growth in contactless payments over the past two years. In January 2020, average contactless adoption in the Nordics was at 56 percent. This grew to 75 percent by January 2021. Norway saw extreme growth, up from 35 percent contactless adoption in January 2020 to 79 percent in January 2021.