Romanians surpassed the 1 billion Revolut transactions threshold in 2024, 58% more than in 2023, with the total amount of card payments made for the entire year up by 57% to 9.7 billion EUR.
According to a press release from the digital bank, sent to AGERPRES on Friday, a local user actually carried out, on average, 22 transactions per month with Revolut cards and application, showing a significant increase in the adoption rate of the services of the financial technology company, which has been present for seven years on the Romanian market.
Revolut is one of the main payment instruments used by Romanians when making purchases in online stores or stores with a physical presence, with more than half of the transactions - 519 million - being paid to merchants.
Revolut saw 54% more card payments in 2024 than in 2023, with Romanians using their cards to buy goods in supermarkets or to pay in restaurants, pharmacies or online shopping platforms. Total card payments for the whole year rose by 57% to 9.7 billion EUR.
An important development was also seen in the use of Revolut for instant transfers to other fintech customers, with the number of peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions up by 79% year-on-year to 138 million transactions.
The share of entertainment in the total value of transactions remained at the same level as two years ago, at 23%, making it the main budget category in terms of transaction value.
Spending on products other than food and consumer goods (clothing/apparel, electronics and household appliances) continued to rank second with 17%, while the budget for food and consumer goods remained in the third place with 15%. Romanians also spent on transportation (9% of total purchases), public food services in restaurants, bars, cafes, fast-food (9%), tourist services (6%), other types of services (8%), utilities (5%).
In terms of seasonality, Revolut data shows that October was the month that recorded the highest number of payments to merchants (+4% compared to the previous month), while July was the month with the highest increase in total purchase volumes (+8% compared to the previous month). December maintained its position as the month with the highest absolute value of purchase volumes (+4% compared to November 2024 and +20% compared to December 2023, adjusted for the growth in the customer base).
In terms of spending budgets, the biggest increase in the total amount spent on food and consumer goods was noted in April (+21% compared to April 2023), and for the retail segment in February, up 19% compared to the same period last year.
Revolut users spent more in December 2024 than in December 2023 on travel (+19%) and 14% more on restaurants in February 2024 compared to February 2023.
Romanians spent 21% more on health in April, 21% more on transportation in May (+14%), and 27% more on services and 33% more on utilities in December.
Revolut is preferred as a payment method by the 25 to 45 age group, that spent the most on digital banking last year, more than 3.2 billion EUR. However, the biggest increase in total Revolut spend was among the 18 - 24 age group (+94% compared to 2023).
Revolut also contributed last year to the growth in digital payment adoption among the more mature 55+ generation, where total volumes spent increased by 49% compared to 2023.
Revolut data also shows that men spend the most with digital banking, mainly for entertainment and shopping, while women use Revolut cards and the Revolut app mainly for shopping and everyday purchases in supermarkets. Although men spent twice as much with Revolut than women in 2024, the increase in total amounts spent was higher for women (+59%) than for men (+53%).
The Revolut digital bank, which is increasingly used as a main bank account by users in Romania, also integrates into the app budget analysis functions and limits for spending for a certain period of time, which can be adapted by customers to their own needs.
Since last year, the global fintech has also introduced a loyalty system for customers who use Revolut to make payments, RevPoints, to help users get even more value for their money.