The Fastest Growing and Most Popular Payment Methods Worldwide

Grow your cross-border business with Rapyd’s country-by-country guide to the most popular payment methods

With the continued rise of ecommerce, there are now more payment options than ever before. From contactless payments to digital wallets, merchants need to pay attention to keep up with all the different ways to pay. Let’s explore the most popular payment methods across the globe and discover the fastest-growing payment methods in the Americas, Europe and Asia.

Latin America’s Most Popular Payment Methods

The payments landscape in Latin America is unique. The region has lower-than-average bank penetration and a long history of cash transactions colliding with the rise of digital payment solutions. When making online purchases, bank transfers and debit cards are the preferred payment methods in Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico. A notable outlier is Mercado Pago. Argentinians in particular have embraced this digital payment platform. Mercado Pago facilitates payments in local currencies across Latin America and it’s the most preferred payment method in Argentina. In Peru, the app Yape is the top method to make payments and transfer money. Apps and bank transfers are growing in popularity throughout the Americans, particularly in Latin America.

Latin America’s Most Popular Financial Products: Debit Cards and Savings Accounts

Throughout the Americas, debit cards and savings accounts are the most popular. Other banking products, prepaid cards, crypto investments and personal loans are also used across North, Central and South America.

Europe’s Most Popular Payment Methods

When we focus on the top preferred payment methods in Europe, the payment platform PayPal is very popular. But a closer look reveals more unique platforms like MobilePay in Denmark and Klarna in Sweden and Germany. More Europeans are choosing mobile apps to make purchases, pay peers, and move money quickly. These preferred payment methods have proven to be secure, fast and easy ways to send and receive money across Europe. To prepare for the future businesses need to accept more ways to pay and open their businesses to cross-border commerce.

Europe’s Most Popular Financial Products: Debit Cards and Savings Accounts

The current state of EU payments returns somewhat expected answers. The top ways to pay are debit cards and bank accounts. Europe has a high bank penetration, reliable wifi and a tech-positive population. All of these factors contribute to the widespread adoption of traditional banking products across the region.

Asia Pacific’s Top Payment Methods

In Asia, people use credit cards and banking apps like KlickBCA in Indonesia and Maybank2u in Malaysia to make payments. These bank-sponsored apps allow people in Asia to take control of their money and banking on their phones, check their account balances in real-time and transfer funds locally and internationally with ease. In countries like Indonesia and Thailand the competing apps beat out banking and credit cards, to be their countries top preferred payment methods.

The Most Popular Ways to Recieve Funds in APAC: How to Show Asia Pacific the Money

When it comes to getting paid, direct bank transfers dominate across the region. It’s easy to see that payments by checks are declining in favor of faster direct transfers. A large portion of India is still paid in cash, but for the most part, getting funds sent directly to their bank accounts is how most people get their salaries and wages in Asia.

Cash Is Disappearing

Across the three regions, cash and check payments are declining and are preferred less and less to ewallets, wire transfers and bank transfers that provide real-time payments and faster access to funds. Apps are the fastest-growing payment method worldwide with certain countries preferring their country-specific solution and others choosing a global payment platform.