In 2025, the number of payments made using cards issued by German payment service providers rose significantly. There were around 14.5 billion card payments in total, 11 percent more than in the previous year. Card payments thus accounted for around 43 percent of all payments made by non-banks. This is shown by the latest payment statistics of the Deutsche Bundesbank.

Direct debits continued to be used frequently. Their number rose slightly by 1 percent to around 10.0 billion transactions. However, their share of all payments fell from 31 percent to 30 percent. Credit transfers increased by 3 percent to 7.8 billion transactions. Their share stood at around 23 percent.

SEPA instant credit transfers developed particularly dynamically. Their number more than doubled year on year, rising by 102 percent to around 680 million transactions. This means that, in 2025, almost one in ten electronically initiated credit transfers was a SEPA instant credit transfer. Their share rose from 4.9 percent in the previous year to 9.4 percent. The value of SEPA instant credit transfers also increased significantly, rising by 141 percent to around €610 billion.

Looking at the value of the transactions, credit transfers, at around €66 trillion, continued to account for around 90 percent of all payments. Direct debits reached a value of around €6.2 trillion and thus accounted for around 8 percent.

The number of ATMs with a cash withdrawal function operated by German payment service providers in Germany is continuing to decline. At the end of 2025, it stood at around 48,000 units, compared with around 49,700 in the previous year. This corresponds to a decline of 3 percent. ATMs with a credit transfer function in Germany also recorded a decline, falling by 4 percent to around 21,700 units. By contrast, the number of point of sale terminals in Germany rose by 11 percent to around 1.3 million.