The National Bank of Ukraine points to a steady increase in the value and volume of cashless payments in Ukraine, as indicated by payment systems industry and payment infrastructure performance indicators for the first quarter of 2016.

As of 1 April 2016, the total value of transactions involving payment cards issued by Ukrainian banks amounted to over UAH 332,050 million, a y-o-y increase of 21%, as compared to Q1 2015, including cashless payment transactions totaling UAH 115,325 million and cash withdrawal transactions amounting to UAH 216,725 million. In Q1 2015, cashless payment transactions recorded a y-o-y increase of 33%, whereas cash withdrawal transactions rose by 15% y-o-y, as compared to the respective period of the previous year.

The figures released by the NBU point to a significant increase in  the number of cashless transactions involving payment cards in Q1 2016, as compared to the respective period of the previous year.

As of 1 April 2016, the number of cashless payment transactions totaled over 386 million (accounting for 70% of the total number of payment card transactions), with cash withdrawal transactions amounting to over 166 million (accounting for 30% of the total number of payment card transactions). In Q1 2015, cashless payment transactions and cash withdrawal transactions amounted to 274 million (64% of the total number of payment card transactions) and 157 million (36% of the total number of payment card transactions) respectively.

According to the data released by the NBU, as of 1 April 2016, the total number of payment cards in circulation stood at over 58.2 million pieces, of which active payment cards that have at least one transactions recorded over the period of three months amounted to 30.7  million pieces (debit cards and credit cards  accounted for 81% and 19% respectively). As before, cards with a magnetic stripe (27.5 million pieces) outnumbered cards with a magnetic stripe and a chip (2.8 million pieces).

The number of contactless payment cards keeps increasing. As of 1 April 2016, the number of contactless payment cards stood at 1.55 million, having increased by 42% y-o-y,

as compared to Q1 2015.

In Q1 2016, the number of trade and service enterprises offering their clients the opportunity to make cashless payments increased by 7%, as compared to Q1 2015, and stood at 124,822 units as of 1 April 2016.

In Q1 2016, the total number of payment terminals stood at 202,552 units (a y-o-y increase of 8%, as compared to Q1 2015), including 181,638 units of POS terminals (a y-o-y increase of 10%, as compared to Q1 2015). As of 1 April 2016, the number of ATMs installed in Ukraine stood at 33.552.  

The data broken down by regions suggest that Kyiv (including the city of Kyiv), Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv oblasts recorded the largest increase in the number of payment cards, ATMs and POS terminals.

As of 1 April 2016, Privatbank PJSC, Oschadbank JSC  and Raiffeisen Bank Aval JSC took the lead among the banks by the number of payment cards issued and the extension of the network of card service infrastructure.