Chart of the Week: Pandemic spurs card payments growth in Singapore

Backing from banks and merchants has made contactless payments mainstream.

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated Singapore’s card payments growth whilst pushed down ATM cash withdrawals, reports data and analytics company GlobalData.

The city’s total card payments are forecasted to grow by 2.5% to reach $85.3b (S$114.7b) in 2020. In contrast, ATM cash withdrawals are expected to fall 3.4% during the same period.
Total card transactions, both POS and ATM, is forecasted to grow marginally by 0.4% in 2020.

“The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown restrictions in Singapore have affected the consumer spending, resulting in the decline of payment transactions. With government gradually easing lockdown restrictions, rise in consumer spending is being witnessed. This, coupled with rise in contactless adoption, is expected to support card payment growth,” said Ravi Sharma, banking and payments analyst at GlobalData.

Backing from big banks and large merchants has made contactless mainstream payment method in Singapore, as contactless cards are accepted by most retailers, Sharma further noted.

Further, the pandemic has spurred merchants to adopt electronic payments.

As a result, cash payments are set decline in the short-term in Singapore whilst card payments, particularly contactless payments, are expected to grow.