Numerous interesting trends emerged in Peru’s financial cards and payments industry as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic during 2020. The most important and influential of these trends was the substantial shift seen away from the use of cash and towards the use of financial cards in general. This trend needs to be assessed within the context...
Overall consumer expenditure in Austria has been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak and consequent widespread decline in demand for services, tourism and foodservice throughout the country. Consumer payments were already shifting away from cash before the pandemic, in line with ongoing technological development and rising demand...
The COVID-19 pandemic had a fairly limited impact on Norway’s financial cards and payments industry over the course of 2020. The main reason for this is that Norway’s official response to the pandemic was relatively moderate in comparison with what was seen in most other European countries. Financial Cards and Payments in Norway report...
Banks and other financial institutions in the United Arab Emirates have been impacted by the strict measures in place to limit the spread of COVID-19 in 2020. The Central Bank of the UAE directed banks to replenish ATMs with new banknotes and to ensure sufficient cash availability during the salary payment cycle. Financial Cards and...
The main impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Dutch financial cards and payments industry during 2020 was a major shift away from the use of cash as a payment method. Although the Netherlands was already moving away from the use of cash prior to the onset of the COVID-19 situation, an acceleration of the shift away from cash and towards...
The COVID-19 dynamic had a strong impact on all categories of financial cards and payments during 2020. In general, consumer spending was under pressure for much of the year as many households sought to avoid all unnecessary spending due to the hostile and uncertain economic environment that unfolded over the course of the year. This suppressed...
In 2020, the overall number of financial cards in circulation continued to increase in Saudi Arabia, although at a slower pace than in 2019 as pre-paid cards saw a significant drop as expatriates left the country as Saudisation progressed and charge cards continued to decrease in popularity due to competition mainly from credit cards. Financial...
Overall consumer expenditure in Romania has been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak and consequent widespread decline in demand for services, tourism and foodservice throughout the country. Consumer payments were already shifting away from cash before the pandemic, in line with ongoing technological development and rising demand...
Taiwan moved swiftly to contain COVID-19 and this appears to have paid dividends with far fewer cases and deaths recorded compared to comparable-sized markets. As such, the government has not felt compelled to introduce such strict restrictions as seen elsewhere, with this allowing consumers to spend more freely. Nonetheless, overall transactions...
Cash remains the most popular form of payment in Nigeria due to the large unbanked population, in addition to a fear of electronic fraud association with a high illiteracy rate, particularly amongst the lower-income members of society, coupled with poor infrastructure in some areas of the country including insufficient point of sale terminals...