According to Jornal Económico, immediate transfers and debit cards were the preferred and most used payment methods by the Portuguese in 2023, according to the results of the XIII Payment Methods Trends Report, released by Minsait Payments, an Indra group company.

Prepared in collaboration with Analistas Financieros Internacionales (AFI), the report brings together the opinions of more than 4,800 banking internet users from Spain, Italy, Portugal, the United Kingdom and Latin America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and the Dominican Republic).

Some highlights of this report cited by Jornal Económico, include the fact that immediate transfers lead the Portuguese people's preference for online payments (44.7%) and for in-person purchases, the debit card (42.4%) is the most used payment method.

According to the study, 53.4% ​​of Portuguese people only have one bank account, while 29.5% have more than one account, with 17.1% reporting having more than one bank account and having faced a problem with their bank account process.

Another conclusion is that Portugal is the third country where contactless payments are highest (59%), behind the United Kingdom (69%) and Spain (72%).

The study also identifies the main trends that will be fundamental for the sector in 2024. Trends for 2024 include the necessary immediacy of everyday transfers, the universalisation of payment methods, the opening of data and borders, efficiency and increased security in transactions.

The report reveals how the use of electronic payments is becoming widespread in Latin America and accelerating in Europe, where around a third of Europeans say they have gone digital in the last three years, following the Covid-19 pandemic and coinciding with the rise of other alternative payment methods.

“In this sense, in Portugal, immediate transfers led the Portuguese people’s preference for online payments (44.7%), while for in-person purchases, the debit card emerged as the most used payment method (42.4%)”, reveals Minsait.

The study highlights that among individuals, immediate transfers continue to lead to the preferences of the Portuguese (38%), to the detriment of cash (30%), and one of the reasons that could explain this situation is the success of MB Way, a mobile payments solution for face-to-face payments and payments between individuals.

“In Portugal, the percentage of the adult population with bank accounts is 92.6% and the percentage of the adult population using the internet is 84.5%, values ​​higher than the previous year of 92.3% and 82.3%, respectively. ”, reveals the statement.

“The use of cash is losing strength and, among the most used payment methods, the bank card stands out again and continues to be at the top of the list of payment methods, with 94.1% of Portuguese people having a credit card. debit card, 56.4% had a credit card and 32.3% had prepaid cards”, according to the report which details that on average, this means that each Portuguese person had 1.8 debit cards, one credit card and 0.5 prepaid card.

In a sector increasingly concerned about security issues, contactless payments with physical cards are more common in Europe than in Latin America, according to the study.

In this assessment, Portugal appears as the third country where contactless payments are highest (59%), only surpassed by the United Kingdom (69%) and Spain, which leads this index, with 72% of the population opting for this digital option.

The report also reinforces the bank as the main provider of financial services, but the status quo is changing in some Latin American countries, with neobanks increasing their presence and competing for banking hegemony in countries where they were already very relevant, such as Colombia and Brazil.

In Europe, Portugal presents a different behavior in relation to its peers, and almost a third of the population currently operates with a neobank.

The bank's hegemony as a card supplier is little threatened in credit or debit cards but is weakened in prepaid cards, according to the study. In this way, banks continue to be the exclusive supplier of payment methods (cards) for more than two-thirds of the European population, except in Portugal, where neobanks have been taking positions in this service vertical.