Payment Trends (May 2026)

“Payment Trends (May 2026)” is a statistical document that the Bank of Japan’s Payment and Settlement Systems Department plans to release publicly at 11:00 on Tuesday, June 30. The document is positioned as a compilation and publication of the major indicators necessary to understand payment activity in Japan. Indicators without the name of a statistical compilation institution are based on Bank of Japan research, and the telephone number and email address of the Bank of Japan’s Payment and Settlement Systems Department are provided as contact information for inquiries about the document.

The document consists of I. Payment-related figures at the Bank of Japan; II. Payment-related figures for private-sector payment systems; III. Electronic money; IV. Debit cards; and Reference: sources for obtaining other payment-related figures. Section I covers Bank of Japan current account settlements, settlements by business type, intraday overdraft balances, the number of BOJ-NET participants, and JGB Book-Entry System book-entry settlements. Section II covers bill-clearing volumes, the Zengin System, foreign exchange yen clearing volumes, and private-sector securities and derivatives settlement systems. Sections III and IV present figures for electronic money and debit cards, respectively.

Each table presents results using observation units that differ by system and payment method, including average daily transaction volumes and amounts, year-on-year changes, peak days, amounts per transaction, and settlement progress. Many figures are compiled on a one-way basis by aggregating settlement instructions corresponding to actual movements of funds. Depending on the table, the reference bases, such as transmission date, settlement date, and the end of the month, are also indicated.

In May 2026, Bank of Japan current account settlements averaged 100,790 cases and 251.5 trillion yen per business day for current account transfers and related transactions. The year-on-year changes were 6.5% for volume and 10.2% for amount. The breakdown by amount was 96.2 trillion yen for call transactions and related transactions, 99.5 trillion yen for JGB DVP, 16.1 trillion yen for large-value domestic funds transfers, 28.9 trillion yen for foreign exchange yen transactions, 0.2 trillion yen for bill clearing, 1.2 trillion yen for the Zengin System, and 9.5 trillion yen for other transactions. The monthly average of daily peak balances was 17.7 trillion yen, representing a year-on-year change of 26.6%. By business type, the totals were 100,790 cases and 2,514,936 hundred million yen; volume shares included 36.4% for city banks, 16.5% for foreign banks, and 8.6% for securities companies, while amount shares included 21.7% for city banks, 14.3% for trust banks, and 10.6% for securities companies.

The number of BOJ-NET participants was 489 at the end of the month. Of these, 460 were current account participants, 27 were foreign exchange yen participants, and 262 were JGB participants. In May 2026, JGB Book-Entry System book-entry settlements averaged 39,141 transfer cases per business day, including 32,032 DVP cases and 29,274 simultaneous collateral deliveries and receipts. The amounts were 1,624,817 hundred million yen for all transfers, 1,125,430 hundred million yen for DVP, and 1,070,873 hundred million yen for simultaneous collateral deliveries and receipts; the year-on-year changes were 9.2%, 10.6%, and 10.7%, respectively. JGB DVP settlement progress by volume was 0.2% by 9:00, 73.0% by 10:00, 89.7% by 11:00, 90.8% by 12:00, 90.9% by 13:00, and 100.0% by 14:00. On normal days, system operating hours are from 8:30 to 21:00.

The electronic clearing house’s bill-clearing volume averaged 39 thousand bills, 2,405 hundred million yen, and 6,090 thousand yen per bill in May 2026. The Zengin System processed 9,495 thousand cases and 207,783 hundred million yen, with an amount per transaction of 2,188 thousand yen; the year-on-year changes were 13.4% for volume and 24.5% for amount. Large-value domestic funds transfers totaled 14,847 cases and 160,604 hundred million yen, with year-on-year changes of 18.4% and 26.9%, respectively. Small-value domestic funds transfers totaled 9,472 thousand cases and 50,787 hundred million yen, with an amount per transaction of 536 thousand yen. Core-time system transactions totaled 7,891 thousand cases and 47,954 hundred million yen, while More Time System transactions totaled 1,580 thousand cases and 2,833 hundred million yen. Foreign exchange yen clearing volumes totaled 38,746 cases and 288,751 hundred million yen, with an amount per transaction of 750 million yen; the year-on-year changes were 7.3% for volume and 21.8% for amount.

For clearing institutions in private-sector securities and derivatives settlement systems, Bank of Japan current account settlements averaged 757,545 hundred million yen for Japan Securities Clearing Corporation over-the-counter JGB transactions, 7,027 hundred million yen for exchange transactions and related transactions, 23,021 hundred million yen for JASDEC Clearing, and 3 million yen for the Tokyo Financial Exchange per business day in May 2026. The year-on-year changes were 2.7%, 114.0%, 74.0%, and negative 65.5%, respectively. For DVP settlements at the Japan Securities Depository Center, volumes were 335 cases for short-term corporate bonds, 459 cases for general bonds, 7,703 cases for investment trusts, and 0 cases for stocks and other instruments. The amounts were 38,140 hundred million yen for short-term corporate bonds, 3,925 hundred million yen for general bonds, 5,994 hundred million yen for investment trusts, and 0 hundred million yen for stocks and other instruments.

Electronic money covers IC-based prepaid methods, and data provided by 8 companies are aggregated. For May 2026, payment volume, payment amount, payment amount per transaction, number of cards issued, number of terminals, and balances are presented with values that are unpublished or include “...”. For debit cards, figures from the 5 survey networks—JEPPO, JCB, VISA, UnionPay, and Mastercard—are aggregated. The coverage includes domestic and overseas merchant transactions and overseas ATM use, but excludes domestic ATM use. In the first quarter of 2026, payment volume was 372 million cases, payment amount was 15,693 hundred million yen, and payment amount per transaction was 4,220 yen; the year-on-year changes were 13.3% and 15.2%, respectively, the number of cards issued was “...”, and the number of issuing financial institutions was 1,064. The figure of 46,909 ten thousand cards issued is presented as an annual figure for 2025 and is not a value for the first quarter of 2026.