1 in 3 Hungarian Cardholders Regularly Pay by Mobile

The digitalization of Hungarians using bank cards has continued to grow, especially in mobile payments and online shopping, but travel and spending abroad have also returned to pre-pandemic levels, according to the results of Mastercard's Bank Card Usage Habits and Attitudes survey published on Thursday.

With a 97% bank card penetration rate in Hungary, the proportion of people who use a bank card very often, several times a week, for in-store purchases has continued to rise to 63%, while the proportion of people who use a card on a daily basis has risen to 23%. 85% of bank customers are sure to use a debit card once a week to pay in shops. The number of people who do not use a card at all for payments has continued to fall, to just 3%.

63% of respondents use a card for online bill payments, and the share of payments by cheque has fallen from 41% to 36%.

In addition to traditional banks, the number of people who have opened an account with a neo-bank has increased two and a half times in two years. The increase was particularly marked among young people, where the share of non-traditional bank customers rose from 4 to 17%. 10% of Hungarian neobank customers now use their card for all their purchases, but the majority prefer to use it for small amounts only. The most common uses of neobank cards are for purchases in online shops abroad (68%) and payments while abroad (60%).

The popularity of card payments among Hungarians has increased not only domestically but also when travelling internationally. When travelling, 69% of respondents used their card (63% for purchases and only 6% for withdrawals).

A third of Hungarians (33%) made a mobile payment last year, compared to 26% in 2022. Mobile payments are also most common among young people, with 43% of respondents saying they do, but the proportion of older people who regularly use mobile payments is as high as 21%.

The survey, which is representative of the urban population aged 18-65 with a bank account, found that 88% are aware of the existence of mobile banking apps and 68% use them, an increase of 8% in one year and nearly 40% in five years. They are most commonly used for transfers, balance enquiries, checking transactions and online payment authentication.

Following the new coronavirus epidemic, there has been a slight slowdown in the online space, with the proportion of online shoppers falling from 87% at the time of the epidemic to between 81 and 83% after the pandemic. By autumn 2023, however, shopping fever had peaked again, with 88% of respondents having bought something online in the six months prior to the survey. Of the payment methods used for online purchases, online payment by credit card is the most popular (67%), followed by card cash on delivery (44%) and cash on delivery (40%). When the data is aggregated, the proportion of people who pay by card when shopping online is 85%.