Value of card payments increased across nearly all industries in the first quarter of 2026
The value of card payments made with Finnish cards rose by 5.6% in the first quarter of 2026 from a year earlier. The value of card payments increased in nearly all industries year on year. Industry shares of the total value of card payments vary somewhat between quarters, but the statistics also show longer-term trends.
In the first quarter of 2026, payments made by customers using Finnish payment cards totalled EUR 17.8 billion, which was EUR 942 million (5.6%) more than in the corresponding period a year earlier. A total of 590 million card payments were made between January and March 2026, representing a 3.7% increase from the same period last year. The annual growth in euro terms accelerated slightly, while the growth in the number of card payments slowed.
The value of card payments increased year on year in nearly all industries[1]. The largest growth in euro terms came from the recreation and culture industry, particularly from digital media services, electronics and sports equipment retail, and gambling. Card payments to sellers in the recreation and culture industry totalled EUR 2.1 billion in the first quarter of 2026, which was EUR 229 million (12.4%) more than in the corresponding period a year earlier. The number of card payments made to the industry also increased: 58 million payments were made, representing a 10.9% rise from the same period last year. Both the value and number of card payments to the industry have now grown at an annual rate of over 10% for five consecutive quarters.
Industry shares of the total value of card payments vary between quarters, sometimes due to seasonal factors, as seen particularly in card payments to the restaurant and hotel industry. Over the longer term, some more persistent shifts in shares can also be observed. The share of card payments to the recreation and culture industry stood at 9.5% when the statistics began in the first quarter of 2022, and reached nearly its highest level on record at 11.7% in the first quarter of 2026. The share of the food industry, in turn, peaked at 32.2% at the beginning of 2022. Its quarterly share has now remained below 30% for a year, standing at 29.7% in January–March 2026. The largest increase, over 4 percentage points, was recorded in the miscellaneous goods and services category, whose share reached 19.3% in the first quarter of 2026. The industry's share has been boosted particularly by financial services, which include, for example, person-to-person card payments.
In the first quarter of 2026, slightly more than a quarter of the value of card payments was made using a chip or magnetic stripe, the lowest share recorded since the statistics began in 2022[2]. Contactless payments accounted for 45% and remote payments for 29%. There are industrial differences in how cards are used. In grocery stores, restaurants and hotels, nearly 70% of the value of card payments in the first quarter of 2026 was made using contactless technology. In the housing repair and vehicle purchase and use industries, chip and magnetic stripe payments still accounted for over 40% of the value.
Some of the figures discussed in this news release have been published in the payment statistics dashboard.
The statistical data are also available via an API from the Bank of Finland’s open data portal. For details, see https://www.suomenpankki.fi/en/statistics/open-data/.
The next quarterly news release on payment statistics will be published at 10 a.m. on 3 September 2026.
[1] Payment service providers report card payments broken down by the merchant’s MCC industry code. The Bank of Finland has classified the data according to the COICOP classification. More information on the classification is available on Statistics Finland's website.
[2] Developments in card payment methods were discussed in the previous quarterly release.