In 2023, Russians withdrew 33.3 trillion rubles from bank cards – a record for the last 10 years

The maximum amount of cash that Russians withdrew from plastic card accounts in the fourth quarter of 2023 was 9.2 trillion rubles, according to Central Bank data cited by RBC. At the same time, the total volume of individual card transactions in the Russian Federation in 2023 reached 167 trillion rubles (+12% year-on-year).

The growth of card-to-card transfers has decreased: if since 2014 the number of transactions has increased by 23% to 77% year-on-year, then from 2022 to 2023 the increase was only 8%.

It should be noted that the analytics do not calculate transfer data via SBP. And experts point out directly: “the decrease in the growth rate of card-to-card transfers is a logical result of the development of the SBP, which has made money transfers more convenient.”

Among other things, the study notes that 54.4 trillion rubles (+16% year-on-year) were spent with cards to pay for goods and services, and the volume of transactions of legal entities traditionally decreased (in 2023, by 15.7% to 4.7 billion rubles).

Among the reasons for the popularity of cash, experts highlight the desire to keep money with you in uncertain situations, the inconvenience of using cards when traveling abroad (as a result of sanctions), the complexity of cross-border transfers, the greater control over the movement of funds, the specifics of the economy of new regions and the growth of retail trade without the use of terminals.