In 2022, the expenses of Israelis in the various digital wallets grew and reached a total amount of 17.44 billion shekels, compared to an amount of 2.74 billion shekels in all of 2021 – a jump of 6.4 times, according to the summary of the data of the SBA Company (Automated Bank Services).
According to the data, the expenses of the Israeli public in January of this year using digital wallets amounted to NIS 2.45 billion – a 3.7-fold jump compared to January 2022, when the total expenses were NIS 654.45 million. Moreover, the SBA data indicate that the volumes of use and spending on digital wallets in Israel continue to soar at an accelerated rate even in the first month of 2023.
The data also shows that the share of expenses in digital wallets in physical transactions (purchases at the businesses themselves) was at a record rate of 15.6% in January of this year. During the entire month of January, expenses in physical transactions amounted to NIS 15.726 billion.
In January, the trend of growth and use of smart transactions by the Israeli public continued. Thus, expenses in transactions using the EMV system reached 90.2% of credit card expenses and amounted to NIS 35.419 billion, out of total expenses of NIS 39.292 billion. 60% of the physical expenses on credit cards were made through smart transactions (Contacts transactions and transactions in digital wallets and smart watches), the amount of spending in which was NIS 9.43 billion in November.
“Also at the beginning of January, we saw how spending on digital wallets continues to grow, when in an annual view the growth in the use and spending on digital wallets is a sign that Israelis are adopting modern technologies very quickly,” noted Sheba’s Vice President of Business Development, Marketing and Sales, Tali Hollenberg, and added: “Even in a global comparison, the penetration of the world of advanced payments in the Israeli economy is being done in an extremely accelerated manner.”