Once again this year, the number of mobile payments made with Payconiq and Bancontact continues to climb steeply. Between January and August, Belgians pulled out their smartphones to pay for purchases 37% more often than in the same period last year. The growing popularity of making mobile payments via Payconiq at summer festivals partly explains this success. In August, we paid for the first time over 2 million times by scanning a QR code for our purchases made in-store and at festivals.

Anyone who thought that the rapid growth of mobile payments would slow down after Covid-19 is mistaken. Between January and August 2022, Belgians paid over 171 million times using the Payconiq by Bancontact app or a banking app that incorporates the Bancontact and/or Payconiq mobile payment solutions. That’s an increase of 37% compared with the same period last year, when the number of mobile payments clocked up an already impressive 125 million. Compared with the first wave of Covid-19 (January – August 2020) growth has been even more explosive: in the space of barely two years, we’re now paying 131% more often by mobile.