After its launch in Hungary in 2021, the index has been replicated in 2022 in six other countries: Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Serbia, and Romania, analysing data recorded in 2021. The Digital Payments Index looks at the development of the local electronic payments market, reported on three sub-indexes assessed on a scale of 1 to 100, each with equal weight in the final score:
Infrastructure, a sub-index that tracks the readiness of existing infrastructure and its ability to enable electronic payments;
Knowledge, a sub-index that looks at consumer knowledge and understanding of electronic payments;
Usage, sub-index showing the adoption of digital payments and their position compared to cash.
In 2021, the Romanian Digital Payments Index scored 54 out of 100 points, a result calculated from the individual scores of the three sub-index: 69 for Infrastructure, 49 for Knowledge and 44 for Usage.
Mastercard’s officials stated that electronic payment methods have diversified and gained significant ground in recent years as a result of the activities of themselves, issuers, partners, and regulators. However, cash still plays an important role in the economy and in the payment habits of Romanian consumers. To understand the drivers of this industry, it is important to look at market developments, consumer expectations and user knowledge.
The Digital Payments Index responds to this need and provides a holistic view of these data categories. Mastercard hopes it will be a valuable tool for all its partners, from industry players to companies, institutions, and administration, in setting their goals and agenda.
The score of 69 out of 100 points for Infrastructure indicates that there is a good basis for development, but solid investment is still needed to grow the electronic payment infrastructure in Romania. The main directions for action are to increase the banked population, digitise consumers and merchants, including through the development of the acceptance terminal network, bring new payment technologies to the market, and step up regulatory efforts
The level of Knowledge was rated at 49 out of 100 points, which leaves significant room for improving attitudes and skills in the use of existing digital payment methods among Romanians. As knowledge is generally acquired over a longer period of time, there remains great potential for growth in this pillar.
The score of 44 points obtained for Usage is mainly due to the strong position of cash in Romania and the general reluctance of consumers to give it up. The result indicates that the availability of digital payment solutions is not, in itself, sufficient to boost consumer adoption. There is much room for improvement, as well as significant potential to familiarise users with the digital payment methods on the market and their benefits for users.
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