Signature-based German ELV card payments fell dramatically by 18.8% to €63.6bn in 2018.
At the same time, the German banks owned debit card “girocard” scheme recorded extraordinary growth of 15.1%.
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In 2018, merchants massively replaced ELV transactions with the girocard procedure. This abruptly stopped the decades of continuous growth of the ELV system.
The figures are released by payments consultancy Paysys in its preliminary report of the 2018 card market for Germany.
Only every fourth payment with the girocard is now signed. In the period 2005 to 2017 this represented every third payment.
Fees falling since 2014
As a result of regulatory changes fees for girocard acceptance at point of sale have fallen continuously since November 2014.
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By GlobalDataThe average fee is now well below 0.2%. Compared to ELV, the girocard system has become more competitive. This is because the costs for ELV are largely determined by the relatively stable default costs.
Since then, the card market statistics show a slower growth of ELV compared to the girocard scheme. The card-issuing banks have succeeded in considerably weakening the competing ELV procedure through substitution-dependent prices.
Oil companies had deliberately opted for ELV for reasons of price tactics but have given up their resistance.
In this price-sensitive segment, too, the girocard system replaced the ELV to a considerable extent in 2018.
Contactless growth
Excluding the massive shift of German ELV card payments in favour of the girocard system, the total sales generated with the girocard 2018 continue to show a moderate growth of 4.1% compared to the previous year. This corresponds to the growth rates of the last years (2016: 3.9%, 2017: 6.2%).
The average receipt for payments made with the girocard has been falling continuously for years. This trend shows that more and more cash payments are being replaced by debit cards.
The increasing popularity of contactless payment for payments with small amounts reinforced this trend in 2018.
However, the 2018 figures clearly show that the ELV substitution, rather than the “contactless” factor, has led to record values in the girocard system.
