The German Bundesbank’s latest payment statistics show that German payment service providers processed about 14.5 billion card payments in 2025, an 11 percent increase from the previous year. Card payments accounted for about 43 percent of all payments by non-banks, strengthening their position as the largest payment category by volume. Direct debits remained heavily used at about 10.0 billion transactions, up 1 percent, while credit transfers rose 3 percent to 7.8 billion and represented about 23 percent of all payments. The fastest growth came from SEPA instant credit transfers, whose volume rose 102 percent to about 680 million transactions and whose value increased 141 percent to about EUR 610 billion. Nearly one in 10 electronically initiated transfers in 2025 was a SEPA instant credit transfer, up from 4.9 percent to 9.4 percent. By transaction value, credit transfers continued to dominate with about EUR 66 trillion, or roughly 90 percent of all payments, compared with about EUR 6.2 trillion for direct debits, or about 8 percent. Payment infrastructure moved in different directions: the number of cash dispensers operated domestically by German payment service providers fell 3 percent to about 48,000 at the end of 2025, ATMs with transfer functions fell 4 percent to about 21,700, and merchants’ payment terminals increased 11 percent to about 1.3 million.
German Bundesbank2026-07-22
German Bundesbank payment statistics show card payments up 11 percent in 2025, SEPA instant transfers more than doubled
The German Bundesbank’s latest payment statistics show card payments rose 11 percent to about 14.5 billion in 2025, accounting for roughly 43 percent of all non-bank payments. SEPA instant credit transfers more than doubled to 680 million transactions and reached about EUR 610 billion in value. At the same time, cash dispensing infrastructure declined while merchants’ payment terminals increased.