Credit card transactions exceeded debit transactions in 2018 in Canada

This situation has not occurred since 1997, according to the report published by Technology Strategies International. It is estimated that 6.047 billion consumer credit card payment transactions were conducted in 2018, compared with 6.042 billion debit payment transactions. This gap is expected to widen over the next few years.

Other key findings:

• debit card and credit card transactions have each exceeded cash purchase transactions for the past few years;

• online purchases make up about 7% of Canadian retail purchases;

• the number of debit and credit card payment transactions accounted for more than 60% of all payment transactions on personal consumption expenditure in 2018;

• the volume of contactless payment transactions grew by 33% in 2018, and accounted for more than 25% of the combined number of debit, credit, and cash consumer payment transactions;

• mobile is expected to command the highest share of bill payments and transfers by 2020.