Payment Trends (May 2025)

Overview

This report explains the payment trends statistics for May 2025 published by the Bank of Japan. ## Key Points ### 1. Payment Volume and Value Trends - Zengin System payment volume: +8.2% YoY (daily average 6.42 million transactions) - Payment value: +5.4% YoY (daily average 152.3 trillion yen) - Large-value payments (BOJ-NET): Volume +3.1%, value +4.8% - Five consecutive months of year-on-year increases in both volume and value ### 2. Trends by Payment Method - Bank transfers: 72.3% share of transactions, +6.8% YoY - Credit cards: 9.2 trillion yen in payments, +12.1% YoY - Electronic money: 842 billion yen in payments, +18.4% YoY - QR code payments: 1.2 trillion yen in payments, +42.3% YoY (highest growth rate) ### 3. Progress in Cashless Adoption - Cashless payment ratio: 39.8% (up from 36.2% in the same period last year) - Government target (40% by June 2025) within reach - Retail cashless ratio: Rising to 52.3% - Regional disparities: Tokyo 48.2%, lowest is Kochi Prefecture at 28.4% The article evaluates that digitalization of payments is steadily progressing, contributing to more efficient economic activity.