Canadians trade traditional payment channels for speed and convenience

Payment Canada’s 2018 Methods and Trends Report came out this week. The report, written by Payments Canada in collaboration with PSPs, payments consultants and researchers, aims to shed light on the Canadian payments landscape in 2017.

Unsurprisingly, the overall conclusion of the report is that Canadians are increasingly opting for digital methods of payment as well as the adoption of new payment channels such as mobile. The key factors here are speed and convenience.

Key takeaways from the Payments Canada report:

• On the whole, 2017 was a great year for electronic payments. Canadians made 22 billion payment transactions, many of these were electronic.
• In fact, 2017 saw a 48 percent volume increase in online transfers.
• Contactless payments are also on an upwards trajectory and have increased 55% in both volume and value since 2016.
• Debit card use increased in 2017, primarily due to the prevalent use of cards (contactless) and mobile taps.

In Canada, credit cards are king. A key driver of credit card use is their integration into convenient and fast emerging payment channels such as mobile phones, game consoles and smart speakers.

• 90 percent of Canadians own credit cards and their use has increased by 33 percent since 2012.
• Credit cards account for 64 percent of the volume of payments made in person, online or at POS.

The data shows that consumers are putting more stock in the payment experience. The quicker the better. They are also eager to make use of innovative payment channels as long as these are convenient to use.

To read the complete Canadian Payment Methods and Trends (CPMT) report, visit the Payments Canada website.

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