Latvia's Payment Statistics

1

LATVIA'S PAYMENT STATISTICS

In 2013, 20 credit institutions registered in Latvia and fivebranches,registeredinLatvia, ofcreditinstitutionsregisteredinothercountries (hereinafter, credit institutions), 7 electronicmoney institutions (hereinafter, e-money institutions), Latvijas Banka and the Treasury as well as the SJSC Latvijas Pasts (hereinafter, Latvijas Pasts) provided payment statistics.

In 2013, total payments executed via the payment system of Latvia by the customers of credit institutions, e-money institutions, Latvijas Banka, Latvijas Pastsand the Treasury recorded a year-on-year increase of 12.8% (to 297.7 million) and 17.8% (to 407.0 billion lats) in terms of volume and value respectively (see Chart 1).

Chart1

In 2013, the total volume of customer payments per capita amounted to 148 in Latvia.

In Estonia, the total volume of customer payments per capita is higher than in Latvia and Lithuania. In 2012, about 249 customer payments per capita were executed in Estonia, while in Latvia and Lithuania the customer payments per capita comprised 130 and 104 respectively (see Chart 2).

Chart2

In 2013, payments by cards (151.6million) were the most frequently used payment instrument for the first time in Latvia – they accounted for 50.9% of the total volume of customer payments. The volume of customer credit transfers stood at 139.7million or 46.9% of total customer payments. Direct debit and cheque payments (4.4 million) and e-money payments (1.9 million) comprised 1.5% and 0.6% respectively (see Chart 3). Of total customer payments executed in the European Union overall, card payments comprised 42.1% in 2012, customer credit transfers amounted to 27.2%, direct debit payments stood at 24.1%, e-money payments were 1.6%, cheque payments and other payment instruments – 4.5% and 0.5% respectively (see Chart 3).

Chart3

In 2013, the volume of payments made with payment cards recorded a year-on-year increase of 18.5% in Latvia, that of customer credit transfers rose by 7.3% and the volume of e-money payments and direct debit payments increased by 31.8% and 3.6% respectively. At the same time, the volume of cheque payments continued to decline (by 28.6%).

Similar to card payments, transactions at terminals were also serviced by credit institutions only (see Charts 4 and 5). In 2013, transactions executed at terminals located in the country (including cash deposits and withdrawals from ATMs, payments made at POS terminals and credit transfers via ATMs) with cards issued in the country posted a year-on-year rise of 8.0% (to 173.3 million) and 11.6% (to 5.8 billion lats) in terms of volume and value respectively.

Chart4

Chart5

Transactions made at terminals located in the country with cards issued outside the country expanded by 49.7% (to 19.7 million) and 50.4% (to 0.8 billion lats) in terms of volume and value respectively.

Transactions effected at terminals located outside the country with cards issued in the country increased by 18.2% (to 14.3 million) and 10.3% (to 1.1 billion lats) in terms of volume and value respectively.

At the end of 2013, the number of customer accounts recorded a year-on-year growth of 45.3 thousand accounts or 0.9% (to 5.0 million accounts; see Chart 6). The number of internet-linked accounts rose by 220.7 thousand accounts or 6.1% (to 3.8 million accounts).

Chart6

At the end of 2013, 2.5accounts per capita were opened on average in Latvia. In 2012, 1.7 accounts per capita were opened on average in Estonia, 2.9accounts – in Lithuania and 1.0account – in the European Union (see Chart 7).

Chart7

At the end of 2013, the number of cards issued increased by 0.7% or 17.8 thousand cards (to 2.4 million cards) year-on-year. On average, 1.2payment cards per capita were issued in Latvia at the end of 2013 (the same as in the previous year), while 1.3and 1.2cards per capita were issued on average in Estonia and Lithuania at the end of 2012 (see Chart 8).

Chart8

Of cards, 99.9% were cards with a cash function (other were virtual payment cards for effecting settlement only, providing no cash withdrawals) and almost all cards were with a payment function. Of cards with one or multiple payment functions, most were with a debit function (77.4% or 1.9 million). As regards cards with a payment function, cards with a credit function and delayed debit function amounted to 14.5% (0.3 million) and 8.8% (0.2 million) respectively (see Chart 9).

Chart9

At the end of 2013, the number of ATMs posted a year-on-year decline of 7.3% (to 1177ATMs). On average 587 ATMs per million inhabitants were installed in Latvia at the end of 2013. In 2012, 624 ATMs per million inhabitants were installed on average in Latvia and 443 and 618 ATMs per million inhabitants were installed on average in Lithuania and Estonia respectively; 864 ATMs per million inhabitants were installed on average in the European Union (see Chart 10).

Chart10

At the end of 2013, the number of POS terminals rose slightly (by 5.3%) year-on-year and stood at 25.9thousand. POS terminals amounted to 12.9 thousand per million inhabitants on average in Latvia at the end of 2013. At the end of 2012, POS terminals amounted to 12.1 thousand per million inhabitants on average in Latvia, while 14.8 thousand and 20.3 thousand POS terminals per million inhabitants were on average in Lithuania and Estonia respectively; 19.3 thousand POS terminals per million inhabitants were on average in the European Union (see Chart 11).

11. attēls

The number of virtual POSs for cards and e-money increased by 479 or 38.5%.