At its simplest, a payment can be made by handing over banknotes and coins to another person. Final settlement takes place there and then, and there is no need to involve anyone else. Most other forms of payment require interaction between multiple actors and layers of technology. However, when the technology functions well, these forms of payment are preferred by the majority.

What form of payment is the most popular?

Most payment transfers today take place using payment cards. On average, Norwegians use payment cards more than 500 times per year, and a total of 2.8 billion card payments are processed by the Norwegian payment system annually.

However, when transferring money to private individuals, payments using a mobile phone are preferred. Not many people have a card terminal on hand, but most have a mobile phone. And in total, Norwegians make more than 250 million instant payment transfers via mobile phones annually. The number of mobile transfers increases every year.

What form of payment transfers the most money?

In terms of the amount of money transferred, bank transfers dominate. These are mostly payments made via online or mobile banking solutions. In total, 900 million such transfers are made annually, amounting to almost NOK 25 000 billion.

So even though fewer bank transfers than card payments are made, a much larger amount is transferred in this manner. The average card payment amount is around NOK 400, while the average bank transfer amount is over NOK 26 000.

Is cash still used?

Although banknotes and coins are used less frequently than before, an amount totalling NOK 38 billion is still in circulation. As a banknote or coin can be used in multiple transactions before reaching a registration point, it is hard to measure their use in payments. However, surveys indicate that cash payments and transfers make up around 3 percent of the total.