BKM Reports Increased Debit and Credit Card Use [Infographic]

The Interbank Card Center (BKM) released the H1 2012 report on the card payment trends in Turkey. The most reassuring rise is on debit card use, which increased eight-folds in the past six years from 1.5 billion TL in 2006 to 12 billion TL in 2011. H1 2012 debit spending is already at 8 billion TL.

BKM CEO Dr. Soner Canko lauded the rise in the debit card use as “an important building block in the realization of the cashless society.” The number of debit transactions reached 191.7 million in H1 2012, which constitutes 14% of all card payments, a stark contrast to 4% in 2006.

A seeming roadblock to the transition to a cashless society is the staggering amount of cashback requests. Nearly half of the 318 billion TL card payment volume went to cash withdrawals.

The other half used for shopping comprises 1.2 billion transactions totaling 157.3 billion TL. Grocery stores take the lead with 22.3 million TL, followed by gas stations 18.4 million TL. Electronics are a major category with 12.9 million TL, on par with clothing sales of 12.6 million TL. Jewelry spending saw 35% year-on-year increase and reached 5.1 million TL, reflecting the popularity of gold in the news as a financial instrument.

BKM released an infographic to go with the report, which can be found below in English.