These payment statistics present an up to date snapshot of the dynamic payments landscape. Australians are moving away from paper and cash, relying more on electronic payment forms for routine economic activity as well as larger outlays. Payment forms which link seamlessly into a person’s main transaction account appear to be increasingly valued as convenient and trouble-free.
The Australian payment system is our economy’s circulation system. Every day billions of dollars are transferred through financial institutions to businesses and individuals, providing the lifeblood for the nation’s economy.
In value terms, our system is dominated by non-cash activity. A staggering $3.7 trillion dollars passes through Australia’s non-cash payment system on a monthly basis, an amount three times the size of Australia’s GDP.
| Total payments system | May 2008 | May 2007 |
| Items by number | ||
| Cash (ATM withdrawals) | 72.9 million | 72.0 million |
| Non-Cash | 433 million | 413 million |
| Items by value | ||
| Cash (ATM withdrawals) | $12.5 billion | $12.2 billion |
| Non-Cash | $3,818 billion | $3,603 billion |
Cash
While Australians are still withdrawing billions in cash from ATMs every month, the growth numbers have slowed considerably in recent years. When compared to the significant growth with direct entry and card-based payments, this would indicate a broad trend in the community away from cash towards non-cash payments forms.
| Non-Cash payments | May 2008 | May 2007 |
| Items by number | ||
| Cards | 263.6 million | 240 million |
| Cheques | 33 million | 40 million |
| Direct entry | 136 million | 133 million |
| RTGS | 589,622 | 548,872 |
| Items by value | ||
| Cards | $28.1 billion | $25.6 billion |
| Cheques | $139 billion | $160 billion |
| Direct entry | $851 billion | $818 billion |
| RTGS | $2,671 billion | $2,612 billion |
About two-thirds of the value in non-cash payments comes through the High Value Clearing System RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement). These are significant transactions, often of a commercial or institutional nature.
While RTGS payments comprise two-thirds of the value of non-cash payments, they only account for about 0.14% of the number of transactions. Card payments, including credit, charge, debit and EFTPOS card transactions, constitute about half of all non-cash transactions.
Cards
Australians are heavy users of plastic cards, both EFTPOS debit cards and credit cards. Nonetheless, the number of purchases made using EFTPOS debit cards has grown by more than 66% over the past five years, much more dramatically than credit card transactions, which have grown by some 27%. However, credit card transactions are generally for larger amounts.
While there are more purchases made using EFTPOS debit cards than credit cards, the average value of credit card purchases is more than double that of EFTPOS debit card purchases. In May 2008, the mean credit card purchase was $153 while the mean EFTPOS / debit card transaction was $68.
The value of credit card purchases has grown over 40% over the past five years. A likely reflection of commercial developments and changing consumer behaviour, EFTPOS debit card purchase values have grown even more dramatically, with more than 20% growth between 2007 and 2008 alone.
Cheques
The number of cheques being written in Australia has been steadily declining over the last five years. Other research points to cheques remaining popular with businesses, but being used less and less by consumers, especially younger consumers, who are embracing other non-cash payment instruments.
Having remained relatively static in recent years, this year the total value of cheques processed every business day has dropped by some 10%. By contrast, the total values of electronic payment instruments have shown significant increases over the past five years.
Direct entry
The direct entry system has shown significant growth. For the first time ever, this year the total number of direct debit payments (2.0 million) has exceeded the total number of cheques (1.5 million) processed each business day. The total number of direct credit payments has increased by 5% over the last year.
Direct credits and direct debits have long been the quiet workhorse of the payments system. Yet, the value of both direct debit and direct credit payments have shown consistently strong growth, with significant year-on-year annual growth over the past five years.
Statistics Source: www.apca.com.au and www.rba.gov.au
