Australia Debit Card Transaction Volume Rises 15%

Australian consumers continue to increasingly embrace debit cards, while credit card activity remains flat. Consumers made 177.2 million debit card transactions in October, up 15.2% from 153.8 million a year earlier, according to the Reserve Bank of Australia. Debit card sales volume increased 12%, to AU$12.1 billion (US$10.6 billion or 7.4 billion euros) from AU$10.8 billion. Credit and charge card holders made 127.3 million transactions in October, up 1.2% from the 125.8 million during the same month last year. Sales volume on those cards fell 1.5%, to AU$19.1 billion from AU$19.4 billion. Consumers in October repaid AU$19.6 billion in card debt, down 1% from AU$19.8 billion a year ago. Australia has at least 14.4 million credit cardholders and 31.2 million debit cardholders, the central bank says.