Tuesday, 5 August 2025, 18:07
From a loaf of bread to a coffee or a soft drink in a beach bar. More and more people in Spain are embracing card payments or even Bizum to make small payments that until recently were made in cash. Statistics from the Bank of Spain show that during the second half of 2024 the total number of non-cash transactions reached just under 9.4 billion euros, 10.5 per cent more than in the same period in 2023.
Of this total, card payments accounted for 65.5% of transactions. But in terms of volume, they accounted for only 3.1% of cashless payments. “This indicates that cards are the most widely used means of making small payments in Spain, while transfers are used for larger transactions,” explains the Bank of Spain in the statistics updated on Monday 4 August.
The number of card payments increased by 12% in the period under review, to just over 6.1 billion euros and the growth was also 12% for the number of cards in circulation, reaching approximately 114 million cards.
Bearing in mind that the population in Spain is around 49 million people, this means that each citizen has, on average, 2.2 cards, a figure that has grown in recent years and which shows that more and more citizens have an electronic means of payment and not just a physical one. Also through mobile phones, where institutions are making efforts to introduce payment applications or facilitate the use of systems such as Bizum, favouring less use of cash.
Despite the growth in the number of cards in circulation, the average transaction amount was 32.40 euros, following the downward trend of recent years and below the 33.20 euros in the second half of 2023. “This average amount is lower than that of euro zone countries, which reached 39 euros per transaction in the second half of 2024”, said the institution.
Trend
This trend has become more pronounced in recent years, but it is not new to consumers. Almost two decades ago, in the midst of the financial crisis, the average amount was around 50 euros per transaction. In other words, cards were used for larger payments.
On the other hand, the number of e-money payment transactions increased by 27% in the second half of 2024 compared to the previous year, reaching 148 million transactions. The total amount of these transactions grew by 37.1%.
This growth in mobile card payments has been accompanied, in turn, by a lower number of ATMs where cash can be withdrawn. In fact the total number of ATMs in Spain was 37,393 at the end of 2024, or 1.6% fewer. After the years of strong restructuring in the sector, the rate of ATM closures was lower than the average for the euro area, with a decrease of 3.1% in the same period.
Point-of-sale terminals (POS) or card readers also grew significantly by 3.5% to 4.26 million units, with an increasing presence in sectors such as hospitality and retail.