Contactless payments went up 30 percent last quarter in Canada: Moneris

Contactless payment usage is continuing to grow in Canada, according to a new report from debit and credit card payment processor Moneris.

The payment method saw a 30.14 percent increase in volume and a 27.68 percent increase in transactions in the last quarter of 2018 over the same quarter in 2017.

Contactless payment is most commonly used by “tapping” debit and credit cards (or a digital equivalent on a mobile device through Apple Pay or Google Pay) to make a purchase.

While Moneris notes that the Q4 2018 increase marked smaller quarter-over-quarter growth, the total share of contactless payments nonetheless remains on the rise. In fact, Moneris says 47.75 percent of all transactions during the fourth quarter were made through contactless channels.

Altogether, Moneris says Canadians overall expenditure during the holiday season rose by three percent, although this was a similar case of smaller quarter-over-quarter growth. Notably, Quebec and British Columbia saw above-average increases of 5.4 percent and 4.1 percent in spend compared to 2017, while Saskatchewan and Newfoundland demonstrated drops of 4.5 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile, Ontario was around the national average with a 3.3 percent increase in spending over the same period in 2017.

“Every quarter of 2018 saw an increase in spend, but the increases overall were more tempered than in years past­,” said Angela Brown, president and CEO of Moneris, in a press statement. “This is a trend we expect to continue throughout 2019, with spending to be cautious and growth to be moderate.”

Source: Moneris