The National Bank of Ukraine recently announced an upward trend in cashless payments with customers in most regions getting accustomed to the idea of using payment instruments when paying for goods and services.

The bank reported a total of 35,622,000 active payment cards in circulation - 2,515,000 more than in 2012. The majority of the cards were magnetic strip cards, of which there were 33,277,000, while the number of cards with a magnetic strip and a chip came to 1,536,000.

There was also an increase in 2013 in the turnover and volume of payment card transactions. There was a total of $26 trillion in payment card transactions through Ukrainian banks, a $5 trillion increase over the year before. The volume of cashless payments increased by $1.94 trillion in 2013 to $4.57 trillion. There was a $3 trillion increase in the value of cash withdrawals, amounting to $217 trillion.

"These data point to the increasing popularity of cashless payments, which is in line with global trends. The payment card holders tend to favor cashless payments as they are aware that these payments are convenient, secure and cost-efficient. There is an ascending trend in the number of cashless payments for goods and services, which is underpinned by the enhanced infrastructure that has seen an increase in ATMs and POS terminals," Inna Tiutiun, the deputy director of general department of information technologies and payment systems at the bank, said.