Maltese are using non-cash forms of payment such as credit and debit cards, cheques, direct debit and credit transfers at unprecedented rates, according to figures released by the European Central Bank.

The amount of such cashless payments has nearly doubled between 2000 and 2006, having grown from 13.41 million such transactions in 2000 to 23.75 million in 2006.

Additionally, the value of non-cash payments has more than tripled. Last year, total payments of Lm14.29 billion (EUR33.29 billion) were effected in Malta through cashless payments, compared with just Lm4.407 billion (EUR10.27 billion) in 2000.

But while the figures appear to reflect an embracing of more modern payment techniques, the usage of cheques for cashless payments in Malta remains king.

Cheques, in fact, are still by far the most desired means of non-cash payments in Malta, with no less than 52.8 per cent of all cashless transactions in 2006 having been enacted by cheque, as compared with the EU27 average of just 7.6 per cent.

Of a total of 23.75 million cashless payments and terminal transactions carried out in Malta last year, 12.539 million transactions were made by cheque, compared with 9.71 million cheque payments carried out in 2000. The total value of cheque payments in Malta last year stood at Lm 6.294 billion (EUR14.66 billion), compared to Lm2.71 billion (EUR6.31 billion) in 2000.

While payments by credit and debit cards issued in Malta have soared since 2000, when 2.42 million payments were made by ‘plastic’, by last year the figure had grown to 6.401 million transactions. The average amount of card payments, however, has remained relatively stable at EUR62.97 (Lm146.68) last year compared with EUR60.93 (Lm141.93) per transaction in 2000.

Given the growth in the number of card transactions, which are used for smaller payments, the overall value of such transaction has grown from Lm59.59 million (EUR138.81 million) in 2000 to Lm173 million (EUR402.89 million) last year. 27 per cent of all cashless payments last year were carried out by card, compared with the EU average of 35.3 per cent.

The most popular means of cashless payments in the EU last year was credit transfers, with which 40 per cent of all payments in the EU were made, compared with the Maltese figure 17.2 per cent. In all, 4.08 million credit transfers were carried out in Malta, worth Lm7.8 billion (EUR18.17 billion), last year.

The practice of direct debit still proves to be rare compared with other types of cashless payments. In Malta last year just 3.1 per cent of all payments were effected by direct debit, compared with the EU27 average of 15.2 per cent. 731,000 direct debit transactions were carried out last year, worth Lm59.8 million (EUR139.3 million).