Payments Snapshot in Germany - Coronavirus (COVID-19) Sector Impact

Summary

The Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak, dubbed COVID-19, is first and foremost a human tragedy, affecting millions of people globally. The contagious coronavirus, which broke out at the close of 2019, has led to a medical emergency across the world, with the World Health Organization officially declaring the novel coronavirus a pandemic on March 11, 2020.

Germany is among the worst affected countries in the world with total confirmed cases of 187,518 as of June 15, 2020. However, with new cases falling the government is now slowly lifting lockdown restrictions, which is expected to help revive the economy.

On March 25, 2020 the German government approved an aid package of €750bn ($842.03bn) to support the economy and contain job losses as a result of the pandemic.

This report focuses on the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on both the economyand the cards and payments industry in Germany. Based on our proprietary datasets, the snapshotprovides a detailed comparison between pre-COVID-19 forecasts andrevised forecasts of total payment card, debit card, and credit and charge card transactions by value and volume. It also offers information on measures taken by the government to combat coronavirus.

Scope

• Coronavirus has adversely affected the German travel and tourism industry. According to the German Travel Industry Association (DRV), tour operators and travel agents in Germany are likely to suffer a massive revenue loss of €4.8bn ($5.39bn) between mid-March and the end of April due to cancellation repayments and lost bookings on account of the pandemic.
• Online retailers such as Rewe and Amazon are likely to benefit from the prevailing scenario in the short term as German consumers are increasingly preferring online purchases. Additionally, when shopping in-store consumers will shift from cash-based payments to electronic payments.
• Although the pandemic has hampered the growth of the overall payments industry, card payments will continue to rise at the expense of cash, albeit at a slower pace. According to a survey conducted by Initiative Deutsche Zahlungssysteme (Germany Payment Systems Initiative), between the end of March and mid-April, 41% of Germans used their debit cards more often than before the beginning of the pandemic.

Reasons to Buy

• Make strategic decisions using top-level revised forecast data on the German payment industry.
• Understand the key market trends, challenges, and opportunities in the German cards and payments industry.
• Receive a comprehensive insight into payments market in Germany.