Seoul: Card spending via mobile devices rose more than 6 percent in the first half from a year earlier, with mobile payments accounting for well over half of total card usage, central bank data showed Thursday.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the daily average spending on credit and debit cards by individuals and businesses stood at 3.51 trillion won (US$2.55 billion) during the January-June period, marking a 3.7 percent increase from the same period last year, as per data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).
Excluding cash cards, payments made through channels other than physical cards, such as mobile devices, PCs, and biometric authentication, increased 6.3 percent on-year to 1.6 trillion won. In contrast, spending with physical cards fell 0.8 percent on-year to 1.4 trillion won.
The proportion of payments made via mobile devices and other non-physical channels, excluding cash cards, stood at 53.8 percent of total card transactions this year, reflecting an increase of 1.7 percentage points from a year earlier, according to the data.