The entity that manages the Multibanco also indicated that “in the second quarter of 2020,
withdrawals were made in the amount of 6.2 billion euros, 24 percent less than the 8.2 billion euros related to the second quarter of last year”.

According to SIBS, on the other hand, “growing is the use and weight of the MB Way service as a means of payment in total physical purchases, reaching record figures in recent months, having in this period doubled the volume of transactions compared to the beginning of the year, before the appearance of the first case of Covid-19 in Portugal”.

The company also indicated that “the SIBS report and accounts for 2019 accounted for a total of 362 thousand TPA [automatic payment terminals] at the end of the year, demonstrating the interest of consumers in making electronic payments and the response of merchants to this demand.

In the first half of this year, these equipments were around 373 thousand, said SIBS, adding that “between 2017 and 2019, the number of TPA registered an average annual growth of 7 percent”.

In the first half of this year, more than 717 million operations were made in ATMs and TPA of the Multibanco Network, for a total of 36 billion Euros, SIBS said.

On the other hand, in September 2019, MB Way had 1.78 million users and “monthly, in that period, more than 5.2 million operations were carried out”.

The service now has more than 2.6 million users, and “more than 4.5 million purchases are made monthly with MB Way and more than 10 million operations, a figure that has registered a monthly growth of more than 10 percent”, revealed SIBS.

The ATM network is 35 years old, and there are “currently about 12 thousand terminals of the ATM and Express ATM Networks, which, offering more than 60 features, allow to simplify the lives of people and companies, 365 days a year, 24 hours a day,” said SIBS, in a statement released on 2 September.