Canada goes cashless as mobile payments surge

In 2023 Canadians completed 21.7 billion retail payment transactions worth $11.9 trillion, a 6% increase in volume from 2022. Digital payments accounted for 86% of transaction volume and 75% of transaction value.

In stores, contactless payments made up 63% of transactions in 2023, 17 percentage points higher than in 2022. The total value of contactless payments rose by more than $80 billion. Wider issuance of contactless-enabled cards and greater merchant acceptance coincided with the increase in tap-and-pay use.

Interac reported more than 1 billion mobile debit transactions between August 2022 and July 2023, a 53% year-over-year increase. Interac’s Token Service Provider replaces card details with tokens for mobile and contactless transactions, allowing payments without exposing customers’ underlying account information.

An Interac survey found 78% of Gen Z adults use smartphones to pay. Nearly two-thirds of Canadians said they expect carrying a physical wallet to become unnecessary. Interac’s transaction growth occurred alongside rising merchant support for contactless methods.

Interac’s figures cover activity through July 2023 and refer to debit transactions processed on the network across Canada. The data show higher use of mobile and contactless payments across age groups and merchant categories.