Mobile contactless payments now account for one in three card transactions in Russia

Mobile contactless payments now account for just over a third of all card transactions (34%) and just under a third of total card transaction value (31%) in Russia compared with 25% of transactions and 23% of transaction value in 2019-2020, according to MTS Bank research.

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Overall transaction values for mobile contactless payments made using services such as Apple Pay and Google Pay increased by 84% in 2020-21 compared with 54% in the previous year, while transaction volumes grew by 66% compared with 37% in 2019-20.

The research also shows that 45% of mobile contactless payments in Russia were made using Apple Pay, 36% using Google Pay, 15% using Samsung Pay and 4% using “other services” such as Mir Pay and Huawei’s Koshelek Pay.

“The growing popularity of mobile contactless payments in Russia continues to gain momentum, both in offline stores and when making online payments,” the bank says.

“The most popular payments among Russians, like a year ago, are purchases in supermarkets and grocery stores, as well as payments in cafes and restaurants.

“In October 2021, 68% of transactions from smartphones and 57% from ‘plastic’ were made in these categories. A year earlier, these indicators were 58% and 50%.”

The research is based on the analysis of bank card data for MTS Bank customers across Russia for October 2020 to October 2021.

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