In volume terms, about 31% of payments were for groceries, 18% for transport, 10% for cellphone or data payments, 8% for restaurants and 6% for support or charity payments.
Groceries and transport were also at the top when measured by value, with groceries accounting for 31% of all payments by value and transport 12%. The other items in the top five in terms of the value of payments were home maintenance, rates, taxes, levies and rent, and business payments.
“For instance, we see in the survey that the main reason people do not use debit cards is, they say, that they don’t make enough money to qualify for a card. It seems that they think the qualifying criteria are more stringent than they really are. Given this sort of information, we can help educate people so they can make more optimal choices, which supports our financial inclusion work,” he said.
The Reserve Bank said the study, which would be conducted periodically, would support it in its focus on payment modernisation and its digitalisation initiatives.
“It will also assist in ensuring that consumers are afforded appropriate products and services; support awareness efforts that promote consumers’ understanding of these products and services; and assist consumers in making better financial decisions.”
Cash remains king in South Africa, Reserve Bank study shows
South Africans favour cash as a payment method regardless of what they buy, according to the Reserve Bank’s Payments Study Report
South Africans use cash most often as a payment method regardless of what they buy, the SA Reserve Bank’s first study on payments showed.
Cash payments accounted for 56% of all payments, however, given the low average value of cash payments (about R208 per transaction), payments made in cash represented only 21% of the value of all payments.
The average value per payment across all settlement methods was about R530.
Deputy governor Rashad Cassim said the Payments Study Report, launched on Thursday, was one of the Bank’s initiatives to better understand the payment system landscape in SA.
Cassim said the study results would help the Bank and other regulatory authorities to identify misconceptions about some payment products, among other things.
“It is also interesting to see the detail of when people spend and what they buy. By number of transactions, the top three payment groups are groceries, transport and data. The busiest payment days are Fridays and Saturdays; the slowest are Tuesdays,” he said.
The report combines the observations gathered through two studies:
“[The study shows that] even though the usage of cash is not growing any more, it remains the most popular payment method. Debit card usage is second and credit cards a distant third,” said Cassim.
Debit card payments accounted for 34% of all payments by volume and 55% by value. The average payment per debit card transaction was R768.
Credit card payments made up only about 2% of the volume and 4.3% of the value of payments, but the average payment per transaction was the largest at about R1,141.
To access cash most people (55%) used ATMs and 28% used cashback services at point of sale, particularly from major retailers.
Payment volume and value profiles by province show Gauteng at the top, accounting for 30% of payments by volume and about a quarter of all payments by value. At the bottom, only 2% of payments by volume and value took place in the Northern Cape.
In volume terms, about 31% of payments were for groceries, 18% for transport, 10% for cellphone or data payments, 8% for restaurants and 6% for support or charity payments.
Groceries and transport were also at the top when measured by value, with groceries accounting for 31% of all payments by value and transport 12%. The other items in the top five in terms of the value of payments were home maintenance, rates, taxes, levies and rent, and business payments.
“For instance, we see in the survey that the main reason people do not use debit cards is, they say, that they don’t make enough money to qualify for a card. It seems that they think the qualifying criteria are more stringent than they really are. Given this sort of information, we can help educate people so they can make more optimal choices, which supports our financial inclusion work,” he said.
The Reserve Bank said the study, which would be conducted periodically, would support it in its focus on payment modernisation and its digitalisation initiatives.
“It will also assist in ensuring that consumers are afforded appropriate products and services; support awareness efforts that promote consumers’ understanding of these products and services; and assist consumers in making better financial decisions.”
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