This averages 2.2 million payments worth 1.1 billion euros a day.
The total volume and value of non-cash payments made by customers in 2023 increased by 10% and 58% respectively compared with 2022.
The steep climb in the value of payments reflects a new trend in the banking sector – credit institutions have resumed offering interest payments on deposits, says the Bank of Latvia. The data on the second half of 2023 in particular show a significant rise in volume for one type of credit transfer – intrabank payments as people have been actively depositing their accumulated funds in time deposits and savings accounts.
As in previous years, the most popular non-cash payments were card payments and customer credit transfers, constituting 63% and 34% of the total number of non-cash payments respectively.
2.1 million payment cards were issued by Latvian payment service providers as of the end of 2023 (1.1 cards per capita on average), and most of them were cards with a debit function.
42.5 thousand points of sale (POSs) and 887 ATMs were available to the public in Latvia, while 6.5 thousand POSs and 7 ATMs were provided by Latvian payment service providers abroad. At the end of 2023, the number of customer payment accounts opened by Latvian payment service providers totaled 3.1 million or 1.6 payment accounts per capita on average.
A detailed report on the operation of interbank payment systems, development of payment instruments and other areas vital for non-cash payments is available on the Bank of Latvia website.
