Mastercard survey: almost a quarter of Ukrainians have opened a digital bank card within a year

Kyiv, April 24, 2024 – Ukrainians are increasingly embracing digitalization, especially when it comes to payments, as evidenced by the growing popularity of digital financial tools. Over the past year, 62% of Ukrainians have paid for purchases with a contactless digital card using their smartphones or other NFC-enabled devices, marking 11 pp increase from the previous year. Notably, there has been significant growth in NFC payments among cardholders aged between 36 and 60.

The trend towards digital cards remains stable, with one-third of Ukrainians expressing willingness to switch from plastic to digital payment cards over the next two years. Additionally, nearly one in four (22%) had experience of opening a digital card through a mobile banking application in the past year.

These are the results of the annual MasterIndex survey by Mastercard analysing the payment preferences of Ukrainian banking consumers.

Cashless as a strong habit

According to the survey, 91% of respondents use their bank cards at least several times a week. Among the most common categories for cashless payments are mobile, internet and TV services, which 82% of respondents pay for with their cards, utility bills (77%), medicines (63%), personal care and hygiene products (61%), and food (60%).

More and more Ukrainians are favoring cashless payments over cash in physical stores – 68% of respondents reported this preference, which is 9 pp higher than the previous year. At the same time, every tenth respondent avoids retail outlets that do not accept cashless payments.

Online shopping also retains its position, with 9 out of 10 respondents having bought online in the past year, and one in four doing so at least once a week.

“The survey results once again confirm Ukrainians’ steady shift towards digital payments. For many years, we at Mastercard together with our reliable partners have been working to ensure that Ukrainians can easily and quickly open a payment card, even without visiting a bank branch, and can immediately use it for payments. We will continue to systematically develop the digital economy by introducing innovative payment solutions and enhancing our services to ensure the most convenient and secure payment experience for our consumers,” said Inga Andreieva, General Manager of Mastercard Ukraine and Moldova.

According to MasterIndex, there is a rising interest in children's banking products. Thus, 34% of the surveyed Ukrainians with children under the age of 16 claim that their children already have their own payment card, and another 40% of parents plan to issue such a card in the future.

Money transfers and charity

The category of money transfers is steadily growing, with 67% of respondents confirming that they make transfers from one to several times a month. These transfers are typically made to family members, as payment for goods and services, or as charitable donations.

Last year, 69% of Ukrainians made donations to charity, and the vast majority of these donations (93%) were cashless. About one-third of those who support charitable initiatives claimed to have donated more often compared to the first year of the full-scale invasion. As for the regularity of donations, 16% of Ukrainians who donated last year did so at least once a week, and another 23% did so several times a month.

 

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About MasterIndex

The survey of the attitude of Ukrainians to cashless payments was commissioned by Mastercard and conducted by InMind in January 2024 via online polling. The survey involved 1,506 respondents aged 18–60 years, living in cities with a population of 50 thousand people or more in the territory controlled by Ukraine.