In the first half of 2026, the volume of card payments increased compared to the same period last year, with mobile device transactions seeing a notable rise of over 10%.
According to the Bank of Korea's report on domestic payment trends released on September 29, the average daily usage of credit and debit cards by individuals and businesses reached 3.8 trillion won, marking a 7.6% increase from the previous year.
By payment method, transactions using physical cards rose by 2.5% to 1.42 trillion won. In contrast, payments made through mobile devices and other non-physical means (including mobile, PC, telephone, and biometric recognition) surged by 10.6% to 1.79 trillion won.
This payment method encompasses both contactless transactions at physical locations using mobile devices and online shopping payments.
The increase in non-physical card usage is primarily driven by convenient payment services, which accounted for 52.6% of transactions, up from 51.4% in the same period last year. Notably, fintech services represented 72.0% of this segment.
Convenient payment refers to services that allow payments and transfers using only simplified authentication methods, such as biometric data and passwords, following the abolition of certified digital signatures in March 2015.
In the first half of this year, the average daily transaction amount for internet banking (including mobile banking) at domestic banks reached 53.2 trillion won, a 22.9% increase from the previous year.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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