Poles use 40.2 mln payment cards - central bank

Poles had 40.2 million payment cards at the end of the third quarter of 2018, up by 171,000 from the second quarter, the National Bank of Poland (NBP) reported on Monday.

Over the past 10 years, the number of payment cards increased nearly 1.5-fold, from 28 million in 2008, the central bank said.

Over the past 14 years, the number increased 2.5 times, from 15.5 million cards in 2004, NBP added.

Debit cards make up 79.1 percent of all cards issued in Poland. Their number increased by 272,000 in the third quarter of 2018 to 32 million. Credit cards were the next most popular type of cards (14.5 percent) and their total number amounted to 5.87 mln at the end of the third quarter, an increase of 15,300 from June.

Contactless cards continue to gain popularity in Poland, with 33.5 million cards with the contactless payment function present on the market at the end of September. Their number increased by 580,000 from the end of June. The share of contactless cards in the total number of cards in Poland increased to 82.8 percent at the end of the third quarter from 81.8 percent in the previous quarter.