Is MasterCard or VISA the most used payment card in Belgium? According to the number of processed payment transactions, neither is. In 2020, approximately 1.7 billion transactions were made using Bancontact. This payment scheme, which only exists in Belgium and uses debit cards from the country’s banks (such as the big banks BNP Paribas Fortis, Belfius and KBC) to pay for goods purchased either online or in a brick-and-mortar store, made up the majority of all processed payment transactions in the country. Bancontact also ranked as the country’s most used digital payment method in 2019.
Credit cards lead the way online…
Compared to the EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) region, Belgian customers made relatively more use of credit cards for e-commerce payments. A potential explanation for this could be that Belgian customers are more likely to buy something online from outside their country than other European customers. Cross-border purchases sometimes might require credit card payments, although some Dutch webshops (such as Bol.com and Coolblue) have started to add the Bancontact payment option to make their platforms more attractive for a Belgian audience.
… with debit cards being popular at retail points of sale.
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National Bank of Belgium. (May 26, 2021). Total number of offline and online processed card payment transactions in Belgium from 2010 to 2020, by payment scheme (in millions) [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved May 29, 2022, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/864090/bancontact-visa-mastercard-maestro-v-pay-transactions-in-belgium/
National Bank of Belgium. "Total number of offline and online processed card payment transactions in Belgium from 2010 to 2020, by payment scheme (in millions)." Chart. May 26, 2021. Statista. Accessed May 29, 2022. https://www.statista.com/statistics/864090/bancontact-visa-mastercard-maestro-v-pay-transactions-in-belgium/
National Bank of Belgium. (2021). Total number of offline and online processed card payment transactions in Belgium from 2010 to 2020, by payment scheme (in millions). Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: May 29, 2022. https://www.statista.com/statistics/864090/bancontact-visa-mastercard-maestro-v-pay-transactions-in-belgium/
National Bank of Belgium. "Total Number of Offline and Online Processed Card Payment Transactions in Belgium from 2010 to 2020, by Payment Scheme (in Millions)." Statista, Statista Inc., 26 May 2021, https://www.statista.com/statistics/864090/bancontact-visa-mastercard-maestro-v-pay-transactions-in-belgium/
National Bank of Belgium, Total number of offline and online processed card payment transactions in Belgium from 2010 to 2020, by payment scheme (in millions) Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/864090/bancontact-visa-mastercard-maestro-v-pay-transactions-in-belgium/ (last visited May 29, 2022)