Cashless transactions in Bahrain surge 28.9%

PHOTO

Cashless transactions in Bahrain jumped 28.9 per cent to nearly BD272.1 million last month when compared with the same month of 2021, data from the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) reveal.

There were 11,401,891 point-of-sale (PoS) and e-commerce transactions in Bahrain last month, 71.7pc of them contactless, the banking regulator said.

The figures reflect the trend in the rest of the GCC, which is currently experiencing a region-wide surge in online and digital payments as countries accelerate their transition towards cashless societies in the wake of the pandemic.

The highest number of transactions last month were carried out in restaurants (3,814,219), followed by supermarkets (2,725,729), health services (903,450), government services (630,678) and department stores (505,402).

In terms of value, government services at BD76.6m led the top five sectors, with supermarkets at BD30.8m coming next, followed by restaurants (BD28.8m), health (BD14.7m) and hotels and resorts (BD11.7m).

The infographic shows electronic fund transfers in the kingdom increased during January 2022, extending the rising trend to more than a year.

Transactions using Fawri, Fawri+ and Fawateer services, enabled by the electronic fund transfer system (EFTS), continue to see substantial growth.

Fawri+ is an almost real-time fund transfer service which allows individuals or entities to transfer funds of up to BD1,000 per day in less than 30 seconds; whereas Fawri is a deferred settlement fund transfer service which allows individuals or entities to transfer any amount within a few hours of the business day, and Fawateer provides real-time bill payments.

Last month, Fawri+ accounted for the vast majority, 90.8pc, of EFTS transactions, followed by Fawateer at 4.7pc and Fawri at 4.5pc. The number of transactions completed through Fawri+ in February 2022 amounted to 16,067,475, up 109.14pc from February 2021.

However, in terms of transaction value, Fawri was the leader at 72pc, followed by Fawri+ at 24.3pc and Fawateer at 3.7pc.

In terms of value, Fawri transactions amounted to BD1.28 billion last month, up 21.06pc from the same month last year.

The CBB operates a Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system where all inter-bank payments are processed and settled in real time, on-line mode.

The RTGS system enables the banks to have real time information on, for example, account balances, used and available intra-day credit, queue status and transaction status.

The infographics show that last month 19,146 RTGS transactions were by customers whereas 3,218 were inter-bank.

The volume of successful ATM withdrawals was 1.108m, whereas the value of such withdrawals was BD106.36m.