Preferred by traders and customers because of the coronavirus, payment by contactless bank card has become a habit since the confinement.
The number of such transactions increased by 80% in August compared to last year.
And no security problem arose.
DECRYPTION
The Covid has been on everyone's mind since the start of the school year.
Leisure, consumption, work ... our way of life is changing with the coronavirus.
And it goes right into our wallet: since confinement and thanks to health measures, contactless payment by bank card is developing at high speed. It now represents 15% of all transactions and a third of payments by card in store, according to figures released by the Banque de France on Tuesday.
Proof that the French have adopted this method, which is also very little exposed to attempted fraud.
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"It's more hygienic, there is less possibility of being contaminated with the coronavirus," said Daniel, a lawyer who adopted contactless during confinement.
"In my bakery, for example, the contactless is even done through a window. We keep the distances and we protect ourselves."
Avoid typing your code where everyone puts their fingers, it's a good way to limit risks, but also to go quickly, according to Eric: "It's faster, we save time, so do traders. . It avoids people looking for their change, those who cannot find their card and waiting while the terminal validates when you pay with your code.
Rapid democratization of contactless
More than confinement, the trigger was the raising of the ceiling from 30 to 50 euros, in May.
The Banque de France thus notes an increase in the number of contactless payments of 40% in June, compared to the same month in 2019, then 60% in July and even 80% in August.
"We observed that one out of two payments was made without contact at the beginning of June, the popularity was very fast. The few people who had deactivated contactless often called their advisor", Julien Claudon, responsible for electronic payments at the Societe Generale.
A habit which shows that the French are adapting to new payment solutions.
“In the same vein, mobile payment has grown by 20% per month since deconfinement,” adds Julien Claudon.
And this paves the way for other technologies: several banks, notably BNP Paribas, are working on a bank card with fingerprint.
In addition, the net increase in contactless payments has also helped to raise doubts about the risk of fraud.
The probability is 0.02%, barely more than traditional card payments.