Easter payments plunge

Banking Day staff
Payments volumes fell heavily across the Easter holiday weekend, or so Cuscal Payments have said in an update for clients.

Acquiring volumes were around 40 per cent lower than the previous two equivalent weekends, while NPP volumes were also down 30 per cent on the previous equivalent weekends' volumes,  Bianca Bates, chief client officer, wrote in a circular late yesterday.

"Both Eftpos and Visa transaction volumes were lower over the weekend, and volumes declined across all merchant categories," Bates said.

"We have seen electronic and online transactions continue to rise while face to face and recurring transaction types declining or flattening."

Industry-wide data for February analysed by Mike Ebstein from MWE Consulting shows that credit and charge card spend declined by A$508 million from January 2020 to $26.9 billion.

"Card spend continues to be soft with February 2020 being just 2.3 percent above February 2019," Ebstein said of the last month for which card spending data won't be upended by social distancing and the closure of many businesses.