PULSE study showcases key aspects considered by debit issuers

As outlined in The 2023 Debit Issuer Study commissioned by PULSE and conducted by West Monroe, consumer demand for digital experiences, mobile self-service features, and fraud management are aspects of key importance for financial institutions like debit issuers.

According to an official from PULSE, following the period of disruption caused by the pandemic, in 2022, the industry veered its efforts towards catering to the demands of customers. More to this point, the research highlights the fact that the consumer demand for contactless cards and mobile payments grew and that issuers focused their attention on securing top-of-digital-wallet positions for their debit cards.

Key findings of the study 

When it comes to payment trends, the study showcased that around 80% of issuers reportedly saw a boost in the use of mobile wallets during 2022, with mobile wallet transactions at the point-of-sale reportedly experiencing an increase of over 87% year-over-year. As suggested by the conclusions of the report, this might be a result of consumer awareness of such technologies, as well as of merchant adoption of NFC-enabled payment terminals.

By contrast, the surge previously seen in account-to-account (A2A) transactions, including peer-to-peer payments, business-to-consumer disbursements, and gig-economy wage payments came to a standstill, with a mere 6% year-over-year increase. 

The report further emphasises the issuers' efforts to meet consumer demand for mobile capabilities, as most of them are taking steps to extend an optimum consumer experience. 

When it comes to fraud, the issuers surveyed reported investing in fraud management, with 90% of respondents stating that they focused on fraud-related issues and 45% of them revealing that their fraud initiatives were high-impact. 76% of issuers further reported that they enhanced their fraud models to reduce aspects which impact cardholders in a negative way, like fraud loss or false positives.

The overall debit trends and the methodology used

For the period 2021-2022, PULSE’s research purportedly only found slight improvements in the debit key performance indicators. Moreover, debit usage per active card has remained flat for the period, with over 29 transactions each month. 

Similarly, debit penetration rates only rose to 84.5% of accounts (showcasing an 0.2% increase), and the active rate (or the percentage of issuers’ debit cards used repeatedly) increased to 68.6% (up 1.2%). As a result of inflation, the average debit ticket increased 2.4% to USD 48.49 per transaction. 

The 2023 Debit Issuer Study is the 18th instalment in a series of studies commissioned by PULSE and conducted by West Monroe. The research seeks to provide a fact-based perspective on debit issuer performance, as well as the outlook of financial institutions regarding debt.