The Interbank Card Center (BKM) has released its card payment data for July 2026, revealing that the total transaction volume for credit cards, debit cards, and prepaid cards reached 3 trillion TL. The data highlights a total of 2 billion individual card payment transactions conducted throughout the month. Additionally, contactless payments accounted for four out of every five in-store transactions, while online card payments surged by 34% compared to the same period last year, reaching 908.9 billion TL.
4% Increase in Total Number of Cards
As of July, the total number of cards in circulation in Turkey reached 476.2 million, marking a 4% increase from 456.7 million in July 2025.
A breakdown by card type shows that the number of credit cards rose by 11% to 151.7 million, up from 136.7 million a year ago. Debit card numbers also saw a 4% increase, rising from 215.5 million to 223.2 million. Conversely, the number of prepaid cards declined by 3%, falling from 104.5 million to 101.3 million.
37% Growth in Card Payment Volume
The total volume of payments made via credit, debit, and prepaid cards in July grew by 37% year-on-year, reaching 2.9749 trillion TL (up from 2.1636 trillion TL in the same period last year).
Credit cards drove the bulk of this growth, with payment volume increasing by 38% to 2.5418 trillion TL. Debit card payments grew by 39% to 425.8 billion TL. In contrast, prepaid card payment volume dropped by 43%, falling to 7.3 billion TL.
Transaction Count Approaches 2 Billion
The total number of card payment transactions performed in July reached 2 billion (1.998 billion units), an 11% increase from the 1.8032 billion transactions recorded in the same period last year.
Credit and debit cards dominated the transaction volume, with credit card transactions rising by 12% to 1.1813 billion and debit card transactions growing by 12% to 783.5 million. Prepaid card transactions, however, fell by 35% to 33.2 million.
Strong Growth in Online Payments
Online card payments rose by 34% compared to the previous year, climbing from 678.4 billion TL to 908.9 billion TL. Online payments accounted for 30% of total card payment volume, while representing 13% of the total number of transactions.
Contactless Payment Volume Increases by 44%
The number of contactless transactions rose by 9% year-on-year to 1.3368 billion. The growth in the value of contactless payments was even more pronounced, surging by 44% to reach 1.0153 trillion TL. Despite a slight dip in the share of contactless payments within in-store transactions—moving from 81% last year to 80% this year—the data confirms that four out of every five in-store card payments are still conducted using contactless methods.
