ECB: statistics on payments and securities trading, clearing and settlement – 2008

11 September 2009

In 2008 the total number of non-cash payments, using all types of instruments, increased by 5% to 78 billion in the EU. Card payments accounted for almost 40% of all transactions in 2008.

• In 2008 the total number of non-cash payments, using all types of instruments, increased by 5% to 78 billion in the EU. Card payments accounted for almost 40% of all transactions in 2008, while credit transfers and direct debits accounted equally for most of the remainder.
• The corresponding total value of transactions decreased by around 18% to €259 trillion. Credit transfers accounted for almost 90% of the total in 2008, while the remainder was generated primarily by direct debits (6%) and cheques (3%). The average value per transaction decreased by 20% to €3,315, partially due to exchange rate effects.

• The total number of payment cards (i.e. cards with a debit, credit or delayed debit function) was just under 727 million in 2008. This represented around 1.5 payment cards per person in the EU and is an increase of 5% compared with 2007.
• The total value of Euro-denominated currency in circulation  increased in 2008, as compared to 2007, by 11% to 785 billion, of which over 97% was accounted for by banknotes. Around 35% of the value of all banknotes in circulation in 2008 were €500 denominations (compared with 32% in 2007), followed by the €50 denominations (32%) and €100 denominations (18%).
• The number of automated teller machines (ATMs) available to the public increased by around 6% to 400,000 ATMs. This means that there are over 850 ATMs per million inhabitants in the EU.
• The number of delivery instructions processed by central securities depositories reached 346 million, corresponding to a value of € 831 trillion. Compared with the data for 2007, this means a decrease of 8% of the number and a fall of 9% of their value.

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