In the 3rd quarter of 2025
Aggregate value of withdrawals and purchases using points of sale of the SIBS network increased by 8.0% year-on-year
According to data provided by Sociedade Interbancária de Serviços (SIBS) for the Autonomous Region of Madeira (ARM), the amounts related to the two main types of SIBS network operations — withdrawals and purchases using points of sale (POS) — totalled 852.8 million euros in the 3rd quarter of 2025, representing 2.7% of the national total.
This corresponds to an 8.0% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year (+5.7% in the country as a whole).
This growth was mainly due to the 11.1% increase in purchases using POS (+9.0% at the national level), as withdrawals registered a year-on-year decline of 1.6% (-3.4% in the country).
It should be noted that the aforementioned increase in overall operations, broken down by both types of cards (national and international), was also associated with the year-on-year rises recorded in movements with national cards (+8.2%) and international cards (+7.4%). At the national level, the respective changes were +6.0% and +4.0%.
When disaggregating withdrawals into national and international components, it is observed that in the 3rd quarter of the current year, national withdrawals amounted to 172.2 million euros, a decrease of 1.6% compared to the same quarter of the previous year, while international withdrawals totalled 18.1 million euros, also representing a 1.6% decline compared to the same period of 2024.
As for purchases using POS, those made with national cards totalled approximately 454.2 million euros, an increase of 12.4% compared to the 3rd quarter of 2024, whereas purchases with international cards amounted to 208.3 million euros, an 8.2% rise over the same period.
Breaking down total purchases in-store and online, the year-on-year changes were +11.3% and +7.6%, respectively, with online purchases representing only 5.8% of the total.
In the 3rd quarter of 2025, purchases using POS were mainly concentrated in the sectors of “Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles” (55.1% of the total) and “Accommodation and food service activities” (24.9%). Together, these two subclasses of the Classification of Economic Activities (CAE Rev. 3) accounted for 80.0% of total purchases, registering year-on-year increases of 13.3% and 6.1%, respectively.
An analysis by municipality shows that Funchal recorded transactions amounting to 499.0 million euros, corresponding to 58.5% of the Region’s total, with a year-on-year increase of 5.3% in the combined value of withdrawals and purchases using POS. Conversely, Porto Moniz registered the lowest transaction volume (10.7 million euros) but recorded the highest year-on-year change (+33.2%). On the other hand, São Vicente exhibited the smallest change, with an increase of only 1.3%.
In cumulative terms, between January and September 2025, aggregate withdrawals and purchases using POS totalled 2.3 billion euros, representing an 8.4% year-on-year increase. Movements with international cards grew by 10.5% compared to the same period in 2024, whereas those with national cards rose by 7.7%. The breakdown between withdrawals and purchases using POS reveals that while the former declined by 1.8%, the latter increased by 11.9% compared to the first nine months of the previous year.