Debit cards continue to gain market share from credit cards, and the use of electronic and mobile payments continues to show exponential growth concludes the World Payments Report 2012 released today by Capgemini, RBS, and Efma.

Rise of the debit card and m-payments
As more consumers embrace electronic, mobile and debit card payments, industry innovation will continue to focus heavily on these payment methods. According to industry analysts, there were an estimated 28.3 billion electronic and mobile payment transactions globally in 2011, and in 2010 more than one in three non-cash payments globally was made using a debit card, up to 15.2%, according to the report. However, with only 2.1% of all mobile users making m-payments, the potential for additional growth is still huge, with mobile payments set to reach 17 billion by 2013 and the e-payments 31.4 billion by 2013.

Global shares are changing fast
The BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) concept is no longer valid in payments, with Brazil now the second-highest ranking country by payment volumes after the US. There were 20 billion non-cash transactions in Brazil in 2010, compared with 13.1 billion in Russia, India and China combined. The report confirms the resilience of payment volumes, as global non-cash payments volumes grew by 7.1 percent in 2010, reaching 283 billion, although early 2011 indications show only an additional 0.8% growth. Payment volumes in developing markets grew at a much faster rate (16.9%), boosted by a more than 30% increase in both Russia and China.

Globally, the volume of non-cash payments remains concentrated in developed markets, with North America, Europe and Mature Asia-Pacific together accounting for 79.5%. However, the BRIC block is diverging, with Russia and China boosting payment volume increases of more than 30%, while Brazil has become the third-largest payment market in the world, after the US and the Eurozone. India's payment volume grew at 10% and has a great potential for future growth, but is still the BRIC payment laggard.