In the second quarter of 2024
Aggregate value of withdrawals and purchases made through points of sale terminals in the SIBS network increased by 9.2% year-on-year
Data provided by the Sociedade Interbancária de Serviços (SIBS) for the Autonomous Region of Madeira for the second quarter of 2024 indicate that the combined amounts for the two main operations of the SIBS network (withdrawals and purchases points of sale – POS terminals), reached 714.8 million euros (representing 2.7% of the national total). This figure reflects a rise of 9.2% compared to the same period in the previous year (the national increase being of 6.3%). This growth was primarily driven by a 12.9% increase in purchases made through POS terminals (a 10.3% increase nationally), whereas withdrawals decreased by 0.1% year-on-year (a drop of 2.6% in the country).
It is also noteworthy that the aforementioned overall increase stemmed from both a 17.7% rise in transactions with international cards and a 6.7% increase with national cards. Nationally, these figures changed by +8.1% and +6.1%, respectively.
Breaking down the withdrawals according to the geographical origin of the card (national or international), it was observed that in the second quarter of this year, national withdrawals totalled 171.0 million euros, remaining practically at the same level as in the same quarter last year, while international withdrawals amounted to 15.1 million euros, showing a reduction of 1.4%.
On the other hand, purchases through POS terminals using national cards amounted to 372.9 million euros (+10.1% over the second quarter of 2023), and those made with international cards reached 155.8 million euros (a 20.0% increase year-on-year). Breaking down by the data by form of purchase, on-site or online, the changes over the same quarter of the previous year were 12.0% and 28.8%, respectively, with online sales being only 5.8% of the overall total.
In the second quarter of 2024, purchases through POS terminals were predominantly in the sectors of "Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles" (accounting for 55.3% of the total) and "Accommodation and food service activities" (24.2% of the total). These two subclasses of the Portuguese Classification of Economic Activities (CAE Rev.3) together accounted for 79.5% of the total purchases mentioned. In these sectors, year-on-year increases of 10.1% and 12.0% were observed, respectively.
The analysis of the aggregate of withdrawals and purchases through POS terminals by municipality shows that in Funchal, transactions totalled 435.9 million euros, which represents 61.0% of the total for the Region and growing by 8.0% year-on-year. Conversely, Porto Moniz was the municipality with the lowest activity, with only 6.1 million euros transacted. Ribeira Brava exhibited the highest year-on-year change (+15.9%), in contrast with Porto Santo, which had the least pronounced change (+3.8%).
In cumulative terms, in the first half of 2024, the total of withdrawals and purchases via POS terminals amounted to 1.3 billion euros, an increase of 8.1% year-on-year, with transactions using international cards standing out, growing by 13.8% compared to the first half of 2023, against 6.6% for transactions with national cards. The breakdown between withdrawals and purchases via POS terminals shows that while the former decreased by 0.6%, the latter increased by 11.7% compared to the first six months of the previous year.