girocard reaches 1.4 million terminals in H1 2026 as the average basket falls to EUR 36.12

EURO Kartensysteme published girocard's first-half 2026 figures on 25 August. Active acceptance terminals rose 11.1% year on year to 1.397 million, transactions rose 4.0% to about 4.21 billion, and turnover rose 0.8% to EUR 151.9bn. The average payment fell from EUR 37.28 to EUR 36.12, and 92% of all girocard payments in June were contactless, against 88% a year earlier.

The terminal estate is growing almost three times faster than transactions and fourteen times faster than turnover, which is what a scheme looks like when it spreads into places that used to be cash only: bakeries, kiosks, vending. For acquirers that means more devices per euro of processed volume and a thinner revenue per terminal.

For a merchant it moves the cost question from percentage to per-transaction: as the ticket falls toward EUR 36, the fixed cent component of a girocard price and the new scheme-manager fee weigh proportionally more on the blended rate.

Whether the average ticket keeps falling in the second half, whether turnover growth stays under 1% while transaction growth stays at 4%, and how acquirers reprice small-ticket girocard acceptance in the 2027 contract round.

• presseportal.de
• etailment, 26 Aug 2026
• retail-news.de, 25 Aug 2026