Germany

Economic Benefits of Real-Time Payments Remain Largely Untapped  

Germany recorded 1.2 billion real-time transactions in 2021, which resulted in an estimated cost savings of $313 million for businesses and consumers. This in turn – which helped to unlock $1.4 billion of economic output, representing 0.03 % of the country’s GDP. 

With real-time transactions set to rise to 3.4 billion in 2026, – net savings for businesses and consumers are forecasted to climb to $1.1 billion in 2026. That would, helping to generate an additional $3.3 billion of economic output, equivalent to 0.07 % of the country’s forecasted GDP.  

That means for the largest economy in the European Union, the economic benefits of real-time payments remain largely untapped. According to the Cebr, the theoretical impact of all payments being real-time could add 3% to formal GDP by 2026. However, these are theoretically modelled modeled benefits; they do, this does  not suggest that there is no longer place for non-instant electronic payments or paper-based payments in the future.    

Germany adopted the pan-European real-time payments scheme SCT Inst in 2017, which was developed by the European Payments Council (EPC). By integrating it, Germany gained access to a real-time payments scheme that provides euro transfers not only among participating financial institutions in Germany, but also with any European countries part of the eurozone. This integration makes transfers easier between the EU markets, helping boost economic activity. Based on total payments spend, real-time payments had the second highest market share with 1.6% in 2021, and it is expected to grow to 6.8% by 2026. Electronic payments (excluding real-time payments) are the dominant payments tool in Germany.  

Despite being available at 1,215 institutions in Germany and being provided by most major banks, real-time payments has have a long way to go before it they can claim to hold a significant share of challenge the overall volume of electronic payments (excluding real-time payments). Future projections for real-time payments are positive as real-time volumes are expected to record a CAGR of 24.1% from 2021-2026, and payments spend will grow at a much stronger CAGR of 38% over the same period. The higher growth in value of transactions on real-time systems indicate that there is still progress to be made towards RTP’s adoption as an everyday means of transaction. Germany is, however, one of the markets where bank transfers (and invoice-based payments, often settled with bank transfers) are strongest within the EU. This, combined with its traditionally cash-dependent consumer base, may make the market more likely to shift to real-time payments for purchases when compared with its peers that are more card-dependent.