National Payments Plan

November 2014 Ronnie O’Toole

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Current situationIre

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Electronic payments around half the northern European level

• Ireland second only to France in terms of cheque usage;

• Ireland second highest ATM withdrawals per capita;

• Business e-banking penetration levels low ;

• Over half all social welfare paid out in cash.

Direct Debit Debit Card ATM Cheque Counter€0

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• But making a payment costs money!

Payments in Ireland today

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National Payments Plan - Vision

Irish consumers and businesses will have access

to the most innovative payment methods

Cash will remain a widely used method of payment

Cheque usage will fall though will remain available

Change is happening – Debit Cards

• Debit card usage has surged in Ireland over the last number of years, increasing 62% since 2009 alone;

• ‘Contactless’ transactions on debit cards are currently increasing 6.5-fold in a year;

• Other forms of cashless payment growing in popularity:

– Leap Cards up 7.2% in a quarter to 7.2m trips in Q1. Up 57% in a year. Leap now launched in Cork.

– Parking Tag also growing rapidly. 22% of all parking now by Parking Tag – 2m transactions pa.

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Debit Card Transactions(Ireland 2009-2014)

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Change is happening – Financial Inclusion

• EU survey results from 2013* show that 94% of Irish consumers now have a bank account;

• This compares with only 83% as recently as 2008, evidence that Ireland is rapidly converging with the Northern European norm of 95%-100% of households with access to a bank account;

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/finservices-retail/docs/inclusion/20130506-factsheet-3_en.pdf

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Customers Without a Payment Account(Europe, 2013)

Change is happening - cash

• Cash usage has declined significantly since the onset of the recession;

• It peaked in 2008 at around €29 billion, before declining sharply subsequently.

• The fall now appears to have ended, and ATM withdrawals are broadly stable. A small rise in 2013 was attributed to the increase in ATM withdrawals by tourists due to the success of the ‘Gathering.’

• While Ireland up to 2012 was the highest per-capita users of ATMs in Europe, it now is the second highest behind Belgium.

• The European norm is for withdrawals of €2,689 per capita from ATMs, far lower than the Irish figure of €4,375 per capita.

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ATM Usage(Ireland, 2006-2013)

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Cashless society … no!

Published: D

ecember 2008

Less-cash society … yes!

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Chequeless society … almost certainly

Patricia Simon Ronnie Callan Harris O’Toole (SFA) (Minister) (NPP)

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Promoting electronic payments

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1. Payment charges

2. New technology

3. Financial Inclusion

4. Expanding choice

New Technology

Payments by mobile Contactless

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Financial Exclusion

Ireland’s rate of financial exclusion has fallen from 17% in 2008 to 6% today.

However:

• Half of all social welfare is still given out over the counter in cash;

• Government has launched the Social Welfare payment strategy which aims for 100% electronic payments;

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Expanding Choice

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Improving cash efficiency

Making Cash

Moving Cash

Accessing Cash

Trial run in September-November 2013 in Wexford on the possibility of reducing the use

of 1c & 2c coins

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National Payments Plan

Irish consumers and businesses will have access

to the most innovative payment methods

Cash will remain a widely used method of payment

Cheque usage will fall though will remain available