Cash is becoming less important in Switzerland
St.Gallen/Winterthur - Cash usage in Switzerland has continued to decline. This is a finding of the Swiss Payment Monitor conducted by the University of St.Gallen and Zurich University of Applied Sciences. Payments with mobile devices remain the most popular overall, while the use of non-mobile credit cards has increased significantly.
(CONNECT) The Swiss Payment Monitor, which is conducted by the University of St.Gallen (HSG) and Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), analyzed the payment habits of Swiss citizens. According to a statement on the results, mobile payments remain the most common way to pay in Switzerland, while physical debit cards are still more popular in stores. While the use of cash for everyday payments continues to decline, credit card use is rising sharply.
In terms of the total number of all transactions, mobile payments with cell phones, tablets, or smartwatches retain a clear lead at 31.4 per cent. These are followed by non-mobile debit card payments at 23.8 per cent and cash at 23.0 per cent. Non-mobile credit cards now account for 17.2 per cent of all payments, recording the most significant growth since the last survey six months ago (up 3.4 per cent). The share of cash payments fell by 1.4 percentage points.
For in-store payments, physical debit cards lead with 27.1 per cent, followed by cash at 26.5 per cent, with mobile devices in third place at 24.8 per cent. Physical credit cards account for 18.7 per cent and are also increasing on site (up 3.8 per cent). Compared to the last survey in May 2025, there has been significant growth in non-mobile credit card use for transactions both on-site and overall.
"Our analyses show this is partly due to the one-off information and questions about credit card protection mechanisms in the previous online survey,” Tobias Trütsch, payment economist at the University of St.Gallen, is quoted as saying. “In the online survey, around 41 per cent of respondents stated that they would use a credit card more frequently if they were aware of the protection mechanisms.”
The latest edition of the biannual Swiss Payment Monitor surveyed a total of 1,670 people aged 18 and over in all three linguistic regions of Switzerland between the end of October and mid-November 2025. It also asked 1,173 participants to document any non-recurring payments in an electronic diary over four days. ce/ja