An expert 2021 report on the Austria cards, payments and consumer banking market, with clear commentary backed by relevant data.
Offered by all the main banks, P2P solution Zoin has become popular; establishment offerings have so far been keeping consumers sufficiently satisfied that the new breed of digital players has not captured their custom.
Card spend grew sharply upon the pandemic's arrival, with the shift away from cash now pronounced and the debit card set to be the main beneficiary. Acquirers are increasingly providing merchants with full-service, fix-it-and-forget-it solutions; more and more, this includes BNPL, which, as in many markets, is gaining traction.
Key Topics
Demographics and the economy
Payments environment
Cards market
Mobile payments
Profit pool
The networks
Key retail banks and issuers
Acquiring and processing
Online acquiring
Regulatory and other cards market information
Appendices: Payments Data
Appendix I: Demographics and the economy
Appendix II: Payments environment
Appendix III: Cards market data
Appendix IV: Profit pool
Appendix V: Card networks
Appendix VI: Key retail banks and issuers
Appendix VII: Acquirers and processing
Appendix VIII: Online acquiring
Demographics and Economy:
Austria's population expansion is due primarily to migration, as births and deaths in the country are largely balanced. As of June 2020, around 1.5 million of the total population were non- Austrian, constituting around 17%.
Payments Environment:
Card payments are the most popular cashless payment method. At the end of 2019, there were almost 14 million payments cards in use in the country. Of these, over 10 million were debit cards.
Cards market:
Cash remains the predominant payment mode in Austria: this is linked to traditional preferences and debt-averse attitudes. However, payment preferences are gradually changing.
Mobile Payments:
Mobile payments are increasingly popular in Austria but, like most advanced economies, their adoption is mired by consumer apathy. Mobile payment providers have found it difficult incentivising a switch to mobile payments from cards.
Profit Pool:
In Austria, when revolving credit facilities are used, the monthly rollover rates are low, at around 15% of the outstanding balance in 2020. Due to the low uptake of revolving balance cards. Austria's percentage of credit card outstandings to billed volume is low.
Card Networks:
Austria has a competitive credit cards market, with four major international brands – Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Diners Club – having a presence. UnionPay and JCB enjoy wide merchant acceptance in this market. The domestic debit cards market here is a virtual monopoly, with Mastercard accounting for almost all debit cards and transactions.
Key Retail Banks and Issuers:
The payment cards market in Austria is also concentrated among five key players: Bank Austria, Erste Bank, RBI, Volksbank and BAWAG PSK ... they collectively represented vast market share majorities in terms of credit cards in issue and outstandings.
Acquiring and Processing:
Worldline and Card Complete Service Bank together dominate the merchant acquiring market in Austria. Other acquirers include Hobex and Ingenico Payone.
Online Acquiring:
(Austria is one of the largest e-commerce markets in Central Europe, with an estimated internet penetration of 89% in 2019. Total online acquired billed volume reached an estimated $5.1 billion in 2020.
Regulatory and Markets Information:
In Austria, banking and other financial services are regulated by the Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA), in cooperation with the central bank, OeNB (Oesterreichische Nationalbank). The OeNB monitors the stability
of the financial market at a macro level.
Adyen
Amazon.de
American Express
Apple Pay
Association for Cooperation in Payment Transfers
Austrian Financial Market Authority
B + S
Bank Austria
BAWAG PSK
Bawag PSK
Billa
BKS Bank
Bluecode
BML Group
BNP Paribas
Boon
BTV Bank
Bunq
Card Complete
Card Complete Service Bank
Cardis International
CardMobile
Chief Information Office
Deutsche Kreditbank
Deutscher Sparkassenverlag
Diners Club
DKB
Easybank
eBay
Edenred
Elba Pay
Electronic Payment Standard-Transfer
eps-Überweisung
Erste Bank
Erste MobilePay
Erste Sparkasse
European Banking Authority
European Insurance and Occupational Pension Schemes
European Securities and Markets Authority
Facebook
FMA
George
Gewerkschaft -ffentlicher Dienst
Giropay
Globus
G-D
Google Pay
Hello Bank!
Hobex
Hogast
Hypo Banken
iDEAL
Immigon
Ingenico Payone
JCB
Klarna
LiveBank
Mastercard
Mini Market
Ministry of Finance
Monese
mPAY24
N26
Nexi
NIKI
Oberbank
OeNB
Oesterreichische Nationalbank
Ogone
Pay now by Klarna
PayLife
Payment Services Austria
Payone
PayPal
PSA
Raiffeisen Bank International
Raiffeisen Landesbank Oberösterreich
RatePAY
RBI
Reiter Betten und Vorhänge
Revolut
SIA
SIX Payment Services
Sofort
Spar
STUZZA
SwatchPay
Swish
Trustly
Uni Markt Handels
UniCredit Group
UnionPay
VBAG
Vienna Airport
VIMPay
Visa
Visa Service Kreditkarten
VolksBank Pay
Volksbank Wien
Volksbanken
Willhaben
Worldline
Worldpay
Zielpunkt Warenhandels
Zoin
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