LATVIA'S PAYMENT STATISTICS IN THE SECOND HALF
OF 2015
In the second half of 2015, 17 credit institutions registered in Latvia and six branches,
registered in Latvia, of credit institutions registered in other countries (hereinafter,
credit institutions), one licensed electronic money (hereinafter, e-money) institution,
Latvijas Banka and the Treasury as well as the SJSC Latvijas Pasts (hereinafter,
Latvijas Pasts) submitted payment statistics pursuant to Latvijas Banka's "Regulation
for Compiling "Credit Institution, Electronic Money Institution and Payment Institution
Payment Statistics Report"", which entered into force on 1 July 2014.
Chart 1
In the second half of 2015 as compared with the first half of 2015, the total volume of
payments made by customers of credit institutions, licensed e-money institutions,
licensed payment institutions, Latvijas Banka, Latvijas Pasts and the Treasury executed
in the payment system of Latvia recorded an increase of 7.5% (to 187.2 million), but the
value augmented by 6.9% (to 189.2 billion euro; see Chart 1).
Credit institutions processed the largest share of customer payments, i.e. 95.1%
(178.0 million) and 94.0% (177.9 billion euro) in terms of volume and value
respectively. The Treasury processed 3.9% (7.3 million) and 5.9% (11.1 billion euro) of
the total customer payments in terms of volume and value respectively. The share of
2
payments processed by Latvijas Pasts in total customer payments amounted to 1.0%
(1.8 million) and 0.04% (66.0 million euro) in terms of volume and value respectively.
Chart 2
In the second half of 2015, as in the first half of 2015, the most frequently used noncash payment instrument was card payments (112.2 million payments; an increase of
9.0% as compared with the first half of 2015). The share of card payments continued to
follow an upward path, and these payments constituted 63.0% of total payments made
by customers of credit institutions. 94.2% of card payments were initiated at point-ofsale terminals (hereinafter, POSs), while other payments were initiated remotely with
payment cards via the internet. In the second half of 2015 as compared with the first
half of 2015, the value of card payments climbed by 10.3% and was 2.2 billion euro.
The volume and value of credit transfers made by customers of credit institutions
increased by 5.9% (to 65.7 million) and 6.9% (to 175.7 billion euro) respectively.
Cards were used not only for making card payments but also for cash deposits in ATMs
and withdrawals from ATMs, cash withdrawals from POSs and initiation of credit
transfers at ATMs. Transactions of cash withdrawals from and deposits in ATMs
augmented both in terms of volume and value. In the second half of 2015, 28.5 million
withdrawals amounting to 2.8 billion euro were performed from ATMs (in comparison
with the first half of 2015, the increase constitutes 3.3% and 8.7% in terms of volume
and value). The volume of cash deposits in ATMs went up by 2.6% (4.2 million
deposits), but the value rose by 10.8% (to 1.4 billion euro). Cash was also withdrawn
from POSs. This service provides an opportunity to receive cash with a payment card at
points of sale specially designated for this purpose. In the second half of 2015, the
option of cash withdrawals from POSs was used 145.6 thousand times in the total of
3
6.2 million euro (the volume of cash withdrawals as compared to the first half of 2015
decreased by 1.0%, while the value of withdrawals increased by 8.7%).
Chart 3
The number of customer payment accounts recorded a drop of 3.9% (to 3.4 million) in
the second half of 2015 in comparison with the first half of 2015 (see Chart 3). On
average, 1.7 payment accounts per capita were opened at the end of 2015.
Chart 4
4
The number of cards issued remained broadly unchanged in the second half of 2015 in
comparison with the first half of 2015 (an increase of 1.0% to 2.4 million) or 1.2 cards
per capita.
72.0% (1.7 million) of the total number of cards were cards with a debit function, which
provided an opportunity to make payments from customer funds, while 15.2%
(362.1 thousand) were cards with a credit function enabling card holders to effect
settlement from the credit limit allocated by credit institutions. The number of cards
with a credit function went up by 2.1% year-on-year. 13.5% of cards (321.3 thousand)
were cards with a delayed debit function. Such cards provide an opportunity to use the
credit line granted by a credit institution for settlement, repaying the granted loan in full
at the end of the set period.
Chart 5
The number of Latvian credit institutions' POSs in Latvia and abroad stood at
31.0 thousand at the end of the second half of 2015 (which was 3.3% more than in the
first half of 2015 (see Chart 5). At the end of 2015, 15 595 POSs were available per
million inhabitants in Latvia.
Chart 6
5
The number of ATMs rose by 0.9% (to 1 058) at the end of the second half of 2015 (see
Chart 6). At the end of the second half of 2015, 533 ATMs were installed per million
inhabitants in Latvia.