The Swiss love for cash has declined somewhat, a representative payments survey by moneyland.ch shows. The portion of residents who find cash absolutely indispensable has shrunk slightly from 34 percent a year ago to 30 percent in this year’s survey. 67 percent of the 1500 survey participants say they find cash somewhat or absolutely indispensable.
Debit cards and credit cards are the most important payment methods for residents of Switzerland. 71 percent of participants consider these somewhat or absolutely indispensable. 28 percent of participants find debit cards absolutely indispensable, while a lower 24 percent find credit cards absolutely indispensable.
Table 1: Payment methods by importance to consumers
| Payment method |
Somewhat or absolutely indispensable |
Absolutely indispensable |
| Debit cards |
71% |
28% |
| Credit cards (not prepaid) |
71% |
24% |
| Cash |
67% |
30% |
| Twint |
56% |
20% |
| Maestro |
51% |
15% |
| Postfinance Card |
27% |
11% |
| Debit Mastercard |
27% |
7% |
| Prepaid cards |
24% |
4% |
| Visa Debit / V-Pay |
24% |
6% |
| Mobile payments (general) |
23% |
6% |
| Reka money |
15% |
2% |
| Apple Pay |
13% |
2% |
| Revolut cards |
10% |
1% |
| Lunch Checks |
7% |
1% |
| Google Pay |
7% |
1% |
| Smartwatch payments (general) |
7% |
1% |
| Bitcoin |
6% |
1% |
| Samsung Pay |
6% |
0% |
| Other cryptocurrencies |
5% |
1% |
Even at physical merchants, customers are increasingly using cards instead of banknotes to pay (table 2). While a massive 96 percent of residents use cash for payments, only around a third (34 percent) do this several times per week or more. On the other hand, 54 percent – more than half of residents – frequently use a debit card to pay.
“In Switzerland, debit cards are now used more frequently than cash,” observes moneyland.ch CEO Benjamin Manz. “For many Swiss, cards have long become the go-to payment method.”
Table 2: Payment methods at brick-and-mortar merchants
| Payment method |
Rarely to frequently |
Frequently |
| Cash |
96% |
34% |
| Debit cards |
91% |
54% |
| Credit cards (not prepaid) |
84% |
36% |
| Debit Mastercard / Maestro |
78% |
40% |
| Contactless with credit cards |
67% |
34% |
| Twint |
64% |
17% |
| Contactless with Debit Mastercard / Maestro |
60% |
31% |
| Visa Debit / V-Pay |
50% |
22% |
| Contactless with Visa Debit / V-Pay |
40% |
19% |
| Postfinance Card |
35% |
17% |
| Contactless with Postfinance Card |
31% |
14% |
| Prepaid cards |
27% |
6% |
| Contactless with prepaid cards |
22% |
8% |
| Coop app |
22% |
4% |
| Migros app |
20% |
5% |
| Apple Pay |
19% |
6% |
| Contactless with Revolut card |
14% |
4% |
| Google Pay |
14% |
4% |
| Revolut card |
14% |
4% |
| Manor app |
11% |
3% |
| Samsung Pay |
11% |
4% |
| Bitcoin |
8% |
3% |
| Garmin Pay |
7% |
2% |
| Fitbit Pay |
7% |
2% |
| Swatch Pay |
6% |
2% |
Credit cards dominate online payments
Credit cards are still the most widely used service for online payments (table 3). While more residents at least occasionally pay for online purchases by invoice billing than by credit card (84 percent compared to 80 percent), 13 percent use credit cards to shop online several times per week or more. Twint and debit cards come next, with each being frequently used by 8 percent of residents respectively. Invoice billing follows, with 7 percent of consumers frequently using this payment method for online spending.
“For many online shoppers, credit cards are the most practical payment method,” says Manz. “Although most consumers use billing at least occasionally, credit cards and Twint are used more often.”
Table 3: Payment methods at online merchants
| Payment method |
Rarely to frequently |
Frequently |
| Invoice billing |
84% |
7% |
| Credit cards (not prepaid) |
80% |
13% |
| Twint |
56% |
8% |
| Debit cards |
50% |
8% |
| Prepayment (bank transfers) |
50% |
2% |
| Paypal |
43% |
5% |
| Debit Mastercard |
31% |
5% |
| Prepaid cards |
31% |
5% |
| Cash on collection |
30% |
2% |
| Postfinance Card |
28% |
3% |
| Visa Debit |
23% |
5% |
| Revolut card |
12% |
3% |
| Apple Pay |
12% |
3% |
| Google Pay |
12% |
3% |
| Samsung Pay |
8% |
3% |
| Bitcoin |
8% |
2% |
Twint gaining ground
Twint was once again a major winner in the past year’s payment service race. After finally becoming established in 2021 amid the coronavirus crisis, over half of the Swiss population (56 percent) now consider Twint somewhat or absolutely indispensable. “That makes Twint the third most important payment method for residents,” says Manz. 64 percent use Twint to pay in stores, and 56 percent use it to pay online.
“But for many users, Twint is more of an occasional payment method,” observes Manz. Only 17 percent of Swiss frequently use Twint to pay at stores – a low number compared to other payment methods.
Twint is disproportionately popular among young adults. 82 percent of residents between the ages of 18 and 25 have used Twint to pay at stores, and 75 percent have used it to pay online. In contrast, a high proportion of adults between the ages of 50 and 74 never use Twint to pay.
Visa advancing on Mastercard
Visa has made exceptionally large inroads into the Swiss debit card market over the past year. 50 percent of residents say that they have used Visa Debit or V Pay debit cards to pay in stores. That brings Visa closer to its main competitor Mastercard, which nearly 80 percent of the population uses for debit card payments at brick-and-mortar merchants. Beyeler believes this is because Visa debit cards have recently been adopted and issued by several major Swiss banks. “Visa has been able to win over a number of key customers from its main competitor in the recent past.”
Contactless payments continue to grow
Credit cards remain very popular for contactless payments in stores, with 67 percent of residents using credit cards this way. The portion of consumers who make contactless payments with debit cards has increased somewhat over the past year, with nearly twice as many consumers (40 percent) using Visa debit cards for contactless payments compared to last year (22 percent).
That is likely due to Visa’s new bank partnerships, among other things. But in general, Beyeler observes that “during the pandemic, in particular, contact-free payments became the standard for many residents. The ability to make payments of 80 or 100 francs without entering a PIN has also played a role.”
Who uses mobile payments?
74 percent of the population has used at least one mobile payment solution. But Twint is the only mobile payment service which is used by a majority of residents (64 percent in stores, 56 percent online). Around one-fifth of Swiss use the Coop app, Migros app, and Apple Pay. Smartwatch-based payments are hardly used in Switzerland (less than 10 percent).
Phone-based payment services are particularly popular with adults between the ages of 18 and 49. Residents older than 49 years old hardly use these services. The same trend is visible with app-based neobank Revolut. “App-based services often target younger audiences,” explains Beyeler.
Bitcoin is still far away from becoming mainstream
Although Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have gained popularity over the past year, the vast majority of residence (90 percent) consider these payment methods dispensable. “Although many Swiss actively speculate on cryptocurrency markets, very few residents actually use cryptocurrencies to pay for goods and services,” says Benjamin Manz from moneyland.ch.
But the survey does clearly define the target group which uses bitcoin and other currencies. 12 percent of men use cryptocurrencies to pay in stores – more than double the proportion of women (5 percent). These are primarily young men, as hardly any adults above the age of 49 use this payment method.
As a general rule, men are more likely to make use of nearly all payment services than women are. For example, 73 percent of men use contactless payment services with credit cards, compared to 62 percent of women. Twint is an exception, as more women than men use this service.
More on this topic:
Detailed results of the Swiss payments survey 2022 (PDF)
Graphic: Preferred payment methods (PNG)
Graphic: Payment methods at brick-and-mortar merchants (PNG)
Graphic: Payment methods at online merchants (PNG)
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