27% of Poles giving up paying in cash or reducing it
23:58
The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic caused a large retreat from cash transactions and increased interest in non-contact payments, i.e. contactless cards and mobile applications. In Poland, 27 percent of respondents gave up paying in cash or reduced this form of settlement to a minimum, according to a behavioral survey conducted by Bain & Company among approximately 10,000 retail bank customers in eight countries.
“Compared to the countries surveyed, Poland is close to the average of 30 percent. For comparison, in Great Britain 42 percent of respondents gave up cash transactions, but already in Italy, where Covid-19 hit exceptionally hard, 21 percent,” the release reads.
In Poland, concerns about the safety of both buyers and sellers and the fact that in our country the number of places where cashless purchases are possible is systematically increasing, were contributing to the resignation from cash. According to the data of the National Bank of Poland (NBP) quoted in the material, the number of points of sale accepting payments with payment cards increased by 12 percent during the year and amounted to 717,500 at the end of March 2020. On a quarterly basis, the increase was 3 percent.
“Certain changes in consumer behavior that we have seen in retail banking for a long time are now accelerating. The increase in the number of non-contact transactions is a result of the fact that consumers are afraid for their health, and retail outlets themselves encourage such transactions,” Marcin Szczuka, a junior partner at Bain & Company, said.
