Contactless payments effected with contactless payment cards are growing in popularity among present-day bank customers.

 In Q3 2015, the number of active contactless payment cards increased by 113 thousand psc (9.3%) q-o-q and reached over 1,327 thousand psc.

The increase in the number of contactless payment cards was primarily attributed to the launch and promotion of the state-of-the-art banking products by banks in the area of trade and services, and, consequently,  the development of payment industry infrastructure.    In Q3 2015, banks expanded their network of point of sale (PoS) terminals servicing contactless payment cards by adding 11 thousand units of POS terminals (16.3%).

In addition, efforts are underway to launch contactless payments across the transport network, which would contribute to a further increase in the number of contactless payment cards.

“Today contactless payments are becoming a convenient, trendy and up-to-date option for users,” explained Director of the Payment Systems Department Nataliia Lapko. – Following this trend, the market participants are stepping up efforts to introduce innovative technologies required for payments, including contactless cards and NFC-technologies, etc.   In my view, a shift from preset-day instruments to the instruments of the future is logical and consistent”.

For reference

As of October 1, 2015, the number of active payment cards in circulation stood at UAH 30.2 million pieces.

Over 1.4 billion transactions involving the use of payment cards issued by Ukrainian banks for a total of UAH 866 billion were effected  in the first nine months of 2015.

Overall, as of the beginning of October 2015 there were 168.7 thousand POS terminals and 33.4 thousand ATMs in Ukraine.