UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 2, 2019. 8.5m credit/debit cards got issued in Sverdlovsk Region in the first quarter of the year, which exceeded the figures for one year earlier by 3%. This included 1.6m MIR cards within the national payment system (up 70% on a year earlier), the Bank of Russia’s Ural branch reports.

Sverdlovsk Region-based cardholders performed RUB 553.5bn worth of transactions in the first three months of the year (15% more than in the first three months of 2018). The number of transactions rose by 25% and reached 311.4m. The share of card transactions involving paying for goods and services increased by 27%.

Cashless payments now make up 80% of all the card transactions performed by Sverdlovsk Region-based cardholders. This is the largest percentage registered among Ural Federal District’s constituencies.

Additionally, the number of transactions performed by Sverdlovsk Region’s residents online is also on the rise. 29m Internet-based transactions (worth nearly RUB 43bn) took place in the first quarter of the year; this was almost 33% more than one year earlier. The number of online transactions involving MIR cards rose by 170% and came to 4m.