Mobile payments are thriving in Argentina, leaving behind other traditional payment methods, including credit and debit cards. According to the central bank’s monthly report on retail payments, this type of payment has thrived, accounting for 60% of payment transactions made, while plastic-based means of payment have stagnated, registering a drop in usage.
Mobile Payments Keep Growing in Argentina
Contactless electronic payments have thrived in several Latam countries, given the penetration of mobile cell phones in the area. The latest monthly report on retail payments issued by Argentina’s Central Bank has found that mobile payments are thriving in the country, leaving legacy means of payment behind.
According to the report, mobile devices are being leveraged more to make payments due to the rise of banking apps and mobile wallets. In October alone, 162 million of these transactions were made, registering an increase of 7.1% compared to the transactions carried out during September. The number doubles the number of transactions made during October 2021.
Payments made through these apps account for 60% of the total number of payments made, an increase from 51% in December 2021. By comparison, payments made with debit cards have stagnated, with 66.45 million transactions made in September 2022, falling 9.35% compared to the number of transactions made in July.
Digitization of payments and QR payments
The digitization of the payments landscape in Argentina has progressed steadily since the launch of Transfers 3.0, an open payments program that implemented interoperable QR payments, allowing institutions other than private banks to offer payment services.
On this, the Central Bank of Argentina stated:
“The objective was to promote the formation of an open and universal digital payments ecosystem and achieve greater inclusion of those sectors that do not yet use financial services, one of the management axes of the monetary body.”
The report also shows a sustained increase in QR payments, recording more than 5 million payments made with this tool in October. This represents an increase compared to the numbers corresponding to September when 3.15 million payments were made using QR, which was considered a record at the time.
Bitso, a Latam-based exchange, was one of the first cryptocurrency exchanges to allow users to make payments directly from their wallets, leveraging this technology in September.
Source: Bitcoin.com
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