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Federal Reserve Payments Study (FRPS)

Accessible Version

Figure 1. Changes in the shares of noncash payments, 2018-19 and 2019-20

Number (left panel)
Percentage points

  2018-19 2019-20
Card 0.75 -0.39
ACH 0.30 1.38
Check -1.06 -0.99

Value (right panel)
Percentage points

  2018-19 2019-20
Card 0.38 0.38
ACH 1.11 2.45
Check -1.49 -2.83

Note: Percentage points indicate the change in the share (measured as a percentage of the sum of the three categories) from one year to the next. Figures may not net to zero because of rounding.

Source: DFIPS (large institutions).

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Figure 2. Number and value of card payments in the in-person and remote channels, 2015-20

Number (left panel)
Billions

  2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Total 91.88 99.12 109.76 119.60 127.39 124.39
In-person 72.71 76.68 82.20 86.09 91.12 79.43
Remote 19.17 22.45 27.56 33.51 36.27 44.96

Value (right panel)
Trillions of dollars

  2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Total 5.13 5.46 5.96 6.58 7.00 7.04
In-person 2.93 3.03 3.16 3.30 3.51 3.20
Remote 2.19 2.43 2.79 3.29 3.49 3.85

Source: NPIPS (general-purpose card networks).

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Figure 3. Shares of card payments in the in-person and remote channels, 2015–20

Number (left panel)
Percent

Year Remote In-Person
2015 20.87 79.13
2016 22.65 77.35
2017 25.11 74.89
2018 28.02 71.98
2019 28.47 71.53
2020 36.14 63.86
2020 Q1 31.58 68.42
2020 Q2 40.08 59.92
2020 Q3 35.46 64.54
2020 Q4 37.65 62.35

Value (right panel)
Percent

Year Remote In-Person
2015 42.79 57.21
2016 44.57 55.43
2017 46.91 53.09
2018 49.91 50.09
2019 49.82 50.18
2020 54.62 45.38
2020 Q1 52.71 47.29
2020 Q2 56.79 43.21
2020 Q3 53.86 46.14
2020 Q4 55.21 44.79

Source: NPIPS (general-purpose card networks).

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Figure 4. Contactless card payments as a share of in-person card payments, 2018-20

Percent

Year Number (left panel) Value (right panel)
2018 0.77 0.60
2019 1.70 1.42
2020 4.63 3.46

Source: NPIPS (general-purpose card networks).

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Figure 5. Digital wallet payments as a share of card payments, 2017-20

Percent

Year Number (left panel) Value (right panel)
2017 0.50 0.23
2018 0.86 0.38
2019 1.44 0.70
2020 2.60 1.47

Note: Only includes in-person and remote payments by credit or non-prepaid debit card.

Source: DFIPS (large institutions).

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Figure 6. Quarterly rate of change in the number of accounts with digital wallet payment activity, 2020

Percent

  Accounts with first-time activity (left panel) Accounts with activity (right panel)
Q1-Q2 -3.82 8.01
Q2-Q3 11.05 11.53
Q3-Q4 3.74 11.59

Note: All active accounts refers to those with at least one digital wallet payment in a month. Newly active accounts refers only to those that had a digital wallet payment for the first time. Includes in-person and remote payments by credit or non-prepaid debit card. Rates of change are continuously compounded.

Source: DFIPS (large institutions).

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Figure 7. Quarterly rate of change in the number of accounts with P2P activity, 2020

Percent

  Accounts with first-time activity (left panel) Accounts with activity (right panel)
Q1-Q2 17.99 12.44
Q2-Q3 -7.49 8.86
Q3-Q4 5.81 9.77

Note: P2P is payments using a bank-sponsored person-to-person method. Rates of change are continuously compounded.

Source: DFIPS (large institutions).

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Last Update: January 11, 2022