Mobile banking constitutes majority of the domestic payment shares by 5o.284% in terms of volume followed by Bhutan QR code with 44.623%.ย Similarly, the overall domestic payments recorded an increase of 8.52% and 11.67% in terms of volume and value respectively.
Amongst the various domestic payments, mobile banking made the highest transaction with an increase from Nu 93.06 billion (B) in Q3 2021 to Nu 120.39B in Q3 2022. Additionally, the value rose to Nu. 140.12B in Q3 2024, representing a 10% increase compared to the Nu 127.37B recorded in the same quarter of the previous year.
The volume of mobile banking transactions grew steadily from 31.48 million (M) in Q3 2021 to 37.21M in Q3 2022, reflecting substantial growth. However, it experienced a slight decrease to 36.95M in Q3 2023. Nevertheless, in Q3 2024, the volume rebounded to 37.05M, marking a 0.27% increase compared to the same quarter the previous year.
Retrieving on the QR codes, the utilization of the Bhutan QR codes for domestic payments in Bhutan has surged in recent years, with a growing number of consumers adopting QR code for cashless payments across the nation.
During Q3 2024, the volume of QR code transactions had increased to 32.88M, amounting to Nu 29.40B from 26.97M transactions worth Nu 23.61B in Q3 2023. This represents a 21.91% increase in transaction volume and a 24.54% growth in value compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
In terms of QR merchant registration, Thimphu dzongkhag recorded the highest registration with 6,983 compared to Q3 2023, followed by Paro and Wangduephodrang with 204 and 158 new merchant registrations respectively during this quarter.
Similarly, Internet banking transactions have shown consistent and impressive growth in both volume and value over the years, reflecting a significant rise in the use of these services and the overall value of transactions conducted through digital platforms.
During the Q3 this year, the volume of internet banking transactions saw substantial growth, increasing to 19.57 thousand from 10.07 thousand in Q3 2023. In earlier years, there was steady growth, with 7.00 thousand transactions recorded in Q3 2021 and 8.51 thousand in Q3 2022.
The value of the internet banking transaction has increased from Nu 409.08M in Q3 2021 to Nu 645.90M in Q3 2022, and then surged to Nu 6,005.82M in Q3 2024, marking a 522.11% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year, which had a transaction value of Nu 965.39M.
Meanwhile, the number of cheque transactions has shown a consistent decline over the four-year period in the third quarter this year. In Q3 2021, there were 120.36 thousand cheque transactions recorded, but it dropped to 116.84 thousand in Q3 2022.
The downward trend continued, with cheque transactions falling to 109.06 thousand in Q3 2023, and further to 86.60 thousand in Q3 2024, representing a significant 20.59% decline from the same quarter of the previous year.
While in Q3 2021, 63.09 thousand BIRT transactions were recorded, which increased to 74.41 thousand in Q3 2022. However, by Q3 2023, the transaction volume had decreased to 66.52 thousand, before rising again to 68.63 thousand in Q3 2024. This represents a 3.17% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
Regarding the wallet transaction under domestic payment, the transaction has been steadily increasing over the last five years in the third quarter, with a slight decrease in Q3 2024. In Q3 2021, 667.35 thousand wallet transactions were recorded, which increased to 1,668.23 thousand in Q3 2022.
However, by Q3 2024, the volume dropped to 2,272.24 thousand, marking a 9.39% decrease compared to the 2,507.73 thousand transactions in the same quarter of the previous year.
Among the four e-wallets, goBoB dominated the market with a significant 79.37% share of the transaction volume, followed by eTeeru with 13.96% while MyPay held the smallest share, accounting for just 0.46% of the total wallet transaction volume.
Meanwhile, for the cards and Automated Teller Machines (ATM), the transaction showed fluctuating trends over the years. In Q3 2021, the transaction volume was 945.52 thousand, but it dropped to 545.61 thousand in Q3 2022. The volume saw a slight increase in Q3 2023 to 546.01 thousand and further decreased again to 474.00 thousand in Q3 2024, marking a 13.19% decline compare to same quarter of the previous year.
Sherab Dorji from Thimphu
