In the 3rd quarter of 2024
Aggregate value of withdrawals and purchases using points of sale on the SIBS network grew by 8.7% year-on-year
Data provided by the Sociedade Interbancária de Serviços (SIBS), for the ARM, referring to the 3rd quarter of 2024, show that the values relating to the two main operations of the SIBS network (withdrawals and purchases using points of sale (POS), considered as a whole, totalled 789.8 million euros (2.7% of the national total), meaning an increase of 8.7% compared to the same period last year (+6.1% in the country). This growth was mainly due to the 12.6% year-on-year increase in purchases using POS (+9.6% nationally), as withdrawals registered a decrease of 1.7% (-2.5% in the country).
It is also worth noting that the global increase mentioned above was due to the 17.3% growth in transactions with international cards and national cards, which grew 5.9%. Nationally, the changes were +6.2% and +6.1%, in the same order.
Breaking down the withdrawals according to the geographical origin of the card (national or international, it is observed that, in the 3rd quarter of this year, the former totalled 175.0 million euros, while the latter totalled 18.4 million euros, representing decreases of 1.3 % and 5.8% compared to the same period in 2023 respectively.
In turn, POS purchases made with national cards were around 403.9 million euros, an increase of 9.3% compared to the 3rd quarter of 2023, while those made with international cards totalled 192.5 million euros, equivalent to a rise of 20.1% compared to the same period last year. Breaking down total purchases into on-site and online purchases, the changes compared to the same quarter of the previous year were 8.6% and 168.8%, respectively, with online purchases accounting for just 6.0% of the total.
In the 3rd quarter of 2024, POS purchases were mostly made in the “Wholesale and retail trade” sectors; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles” (54.0% of the total) and “Accommodation and food service activities” (26.1% of the total). In these sectors, annual increases of 9.3% and 13.0%, respectively, were observed.
The analysis of data by municipality shows that 473.8 million euros were handled in Funchal, which corresponds to 60.0% of the Region's total, with the year-on-year growth in withdrawals plus POS purchases in Funchal being 8.1%, contrary to Porto Moniz which was the municipality with the lowest turnover, totalling 8.1 million euros. Machico presented the highest annual change (+17.1%), in contrast to Santa Cruz, which appears with the least pronounced change (+6.0%).
Year-to-date, between January and September 2024, the aggregate of withdrawals and POS purchases totalled 2.1 billion euros, + 8.3% year-on-year, with the transactions with international cards standing out, growing +15.2% compared to the same period in 2023, against 6.3% of transactions with national cards. The breakdown between withdrawals and POS purchases shows that while the former fell 1.0%, the latter rose 12.0% compared to the first nine months of last year.