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Hungary 2026

Market Overview
Payment Organisation Nexi (formerly SIA Central Europe, interbank organisation GIRO Bankcard Company (GBC)).
Domestic Payment Brands No domestic payment brands.
Market Structure Debit cards account for 88.66% of the payment card base. Rapid growth of card use. 93.08% of all cards are contactless.

In September 2016, the number of contactless card payments exceeded that of traditional card payments for the first time.

In 2013, the government implemented a transaction tax, which is also applicable to card payments and cash withdrawals.

OTP, the former state savings bank, dominates the banking sector and is the largest card issuer.

In October 2020, the state-owned Budapest Bank, MKB Bank and savings group Takarekbank (MTB) signed a deal to form Hungary’s second-largest banking group.

Emerging Open Banking payment ecosystem.
Notable Market Trends Contactless cards and POS terminals, HCE NFC pilots, QR-codes, Alipay, mobile payment apps, instant payments, Apple Pay.

Based on the lingering effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, total card payments value amounted to 214.2% of the cash withdrawals value on cards, compared to 195.7% in 2023. Remote payments rose by 17% during 2024, while cash withdrawals declined by 2.6%.
Major Card Issuers OTP, K&H, Erste Bank, CIB Bank and Raiffeisen.
Major Card Acquirers OTP, K&H, Global Payments Hungary.
Major Card Processors Banks in-house; Nexi, Euronet Worldwide.
Key Statistics 2024
Population 9.56 million, with 1.08 bank cards per capita
Cards Debit: 9.11 million

Delayed Debit: 10,038

Credit: 1.15 million

Total: 10.28 million
Card Payments Debit: 1,812.21 million; value HUF 18.00 trillion (€45.54 billion)

Delayed debit: 0.20 million; value HUF 0.1 billion (€0.0004 billion)

Credit: 157.05 million; value HUF 1.54 trillion (€3.91 billion)

Total: 1,972.93 million; value HUF 19.64 trillion (€49.7 billion)
POS Terminals 305,266
POS Payments All cards: 1,540.44 million; value HUF 13.07 trillion (€33.1 billion)
ATMs 4,828
ATM Withdrawals All cards: 88.76 million; value: HUF 9.16 trillion (€23.2 billion)
Digital A2A Payments Credit Transfers: 437.3 million, value: HUF 943.6 trillion – of which online banking payments: 170.8 million, value HUF 716.9 trillion

Direct Debits: 74.2 million, value HUF 1,830.6 billion
Note: Card payment totals include Hungarian card payments made abroad.

Note: Italic forecast figures for 2025F are estimated in the payment market context based on 2024 figures.
Source: ECB, Magyar Nemzeti Bank (MNB).

Introduction – Payments in Hungary

Hungary is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic and joined the European Union in 2004. Due to economic difficulties following the 2008 global economic crash, Hungary had to request €9 billion in help from the International Monetary Fund in 2009. Since then, however, the economy has gradually recovered.

Although Hungary is traditionally a cash-dominated society, payment cards are gaining popularity at the expense of cash. An increasingly banked population, improvement in POS infrastructure, growing adoption of contactless cards, and government efforts to boost financial inclusion are all driving growth in payment card usage.

During 2024, the continuing digitisation of payment and banking services was accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, with strong growth registered in the number of accounts accessible online, contactless cards issued in Hungary, and cards registered in mobile wallet applications. The launch of the instant payment service in March 2020 is the most notable payment market development, revolutionising the usage of electronically initiated credit transfers, and showing rapid uptake over 2022, with instant payments already accounting for nearly 42% of all domestic credit transfer transactions.

The adoption of the revised Payment Services Directive, PSD2, and disruptive technologies have set the stage for digital payments for the digital economy in Hungary. They have accelerated digital payment transformation and mobile payment services, as well as cardless IBAN-based payments directly from bank accounts.

In the last decade, Hungarian consumers have embraced mobile devices such as tablets, smartphones, and Internet of Things (IoT). This change significantly impacts their shopping experience. Consumers have become increasingly connected and they have started to purchase anywhere, at any time, from any device.

In addition, new consumer demands are a game changer. Hungarian consumers like digital banking apps with access to all their accounts at different banks in one single app, with the option to make payments directly from their bank account of choice. Additionally, they appreciate more banking services and payment services added to their mobile banking app. Consumer adoption of digital payments in Hungary is driven by minimal cost, secure payments and a high level of user convenience.

Driven by the development of social media and mobile devices, the emergence of permanently connected consumers has impacted their interactions with brands but also their expectations of how to shop using the increasing number of touch points between consumers and merchants, e.g.:

The ongoing rollout of a mature online and mobile communication infrastructure is an enabler for digital card payment transformation and for Open Banking payments in Hungary.

In a few years from now, mobile banking apps and mobile payment apps are expected to combine account management, digital payment services, personal finance management and value-added digital services from location finders to digital vouchers.

Cash payments, card payments and cardless payments directly from bank accounts (A2A payments) remain all relevant for Hungarian merchants and are heavily used by Hungarian consumers.

This country profile provides an introduction into two competing payment ecosystems in Hungary:

Legal Framework for Payment Services

The legal framework for European payment services is a joint project undertaken by the European Commission as the regulator, the European Central Bank (ECB) as the Euro System, and the European Payments Council (EPC) with the objective of standardising payments in Europe and to remove existing barriers, promote cross-border competition between payment services, strengthen the European internal market and drive the digital payment transformation.

Based on its vision, the EU Commission has therefore created a unique legal framework for cashless B2C and B2B payments that supersedes pre-existing national legislation and is binding for financial service providers and payment service providers throughout the EU.

Hungary has largely transposed this legal framework into their national payment legislation.

Historically, there has been a de facto national regulation of all Hungarian payment schemes with high technical barriers to ensure and defend payment security.

With the implementation of the payment services directive, all payment services in Hungary are based on the unique legal framework for payment services of the European Commission effective in the European Economic Area (EEA).

In addition, the respective rules and regulations of the domestic card scheme and the international card schemes continue to be applied by the card payment service providers (e.g. EMV, PCI, RTS SCA, and SEPA Cards Framework), respectively.

Legal Framework relevant for Payment Services in Hungary

The revised Payment Services Directive, PSD2, had established a legal and regulatory framework for payment services providers, enforcing several protections for their clients such as safeguarding of funds; and required them to execute processes in accordance with banking regulations, such as KYC and AML. It has already resulted in significant progress regarding the integration of the European retail payments markets.

Following the alignment with the EEA region, the legal framework for payment services in Hungary includes the directives and regulations of the European Commission (EC), the ECB, and/or the national central bank (NCB) of the individual country.

All card payment service providers and all cardless payment service providers of the Open Banking payment ecosystem must apply for the European legal framework including:

Revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2)
PSD2 is the key directive for borderless banking and payment services in Europe.
Among others, PSD2 regulates digital payment services and payment service providers such as payment institutions, e-money institutions, payment initiation service providers and account information service providers. PSD2 formulates the Open Banking Mandate for regulated access to payment accounts.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – effective from May 2018
GDPR establishes a regulatory framework for customer control of their data through consent mechanisms, the right to be forgotten and the right to retrieve all personal data for re-use at other service providers of choice, thereby preventing a ‘lock-in’ situation.

E-Money Directive (EMD)
The EMD sets out the rules on the business and supervision of e-money institutions.

Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD)
The AMLD6 aims to improve the harmonisation of the criminal liability of money laundering and terrorist financing across the EU27.

Customer Rights Directive (CRD)
CRD gives consumers the same strong rights across the EU. It aligns and harmonises national consumer rules, for example on the information consumers need to be given before they purchase something, and their right to cancel online purchases, wherever they shop in the EU.

EU Price Regulation for cross-border payments
In 2001, Regulation (EC) No 2560/2001, followed in 2009 by Regulation (EC) No 924/2009, fixed uniform underlying conditions for processing cross-border payments in euro, and the fees for intra-EU cross-border payments in euro were aligned with those for domestic payments in euro.

SEPA End-Date Regulation
SEPA payment instruments replaced domestic A2A payment instrument formats for euro payments.

Card Interchange Fee Regulation (IFR)
The IFR caps interchange fees for payments with consumer cards, effective from 9 December 2015. It increases transparency on fees thus permitting retailers to know the level of fees paid when accepting cards.

Domestic bank service laws
Complementary to EC directives and EC regulations.

Characteristics of the PSD2 Outlook: PSD3 and PSR

The adoption of PSD2 has formalised the relationship between banks and trusted payment providers (TPPs) by establishing the Open Banking Mandate providing open access to customer account data and the payments infrastructure. This is expected to stimulate the FinTech market to develop new integrated services models for both consumer and business customers.

This regulation is a reaction to the growing demand from customers as mobile and internet applications have become widely adopted, driving expectations in how services should be delivered across all industries. Other market segments have adopted Open Banking APIs to respond to this demand and demonstrate that innovative applications can grow business and change customer behaviour.

PSD2 has a significant impact on the European payments industry. According to the EC, the revised Payment Services Directive brings several new important elements and improvements to the EU payment market e.g.:

In 2022, the regulator started a PSD2 review process, which will end up in a revised PSD2 dubbed PSD3. While consultations are currently ongoing, the revisions are expected to address the achievements of the PSD2 and evaluate the need for a revised standard.

Proposed EC Revisions to the EU Payment Services Regulation – PSD3 and PSR 

In June 2023, the European Commission (EC) has published its proposed revisions to EU payment services legislation, as well as a proposal on Open Finance/data access in the financial services sector beyond Open Banking/payment accounts in the form of a new Open Finance framework called “FIDA”.

Essentially, the EC is proposing that PSD2 would be split into two different instruments. These will ensure consumers can continue to make electronic payments and transactions safely and securely in the EU, domestically or cross-border, in euro and non-euro. Whilst safeguarding their rights, it also aims to provide greater choice of payment service providers on the market:

The objective of the regulation is to enhance harmonisation of the rules and enforcement across the various EU Member States. In addition, the EC proposed to merge the E-Money Directive (EMD2) with the proposed PSD3 and PSR texts, so as to have one coherent regime for both payment services and e-money services and thereby ensure a level-playing field between PIs and EMIs.

PSD3 also amends the Settlement Finality Directive (SFD) in order to allow non-bank PSPs (e.g. PIs and EMIs) to participate directly in SFD-designated payment systems. Fintechs will be given access to all EU payment systems, with appropriate safeguards, and giving them a right to have a bank account. That way, those non-bank PSPs would no longer need to rely on banks in order to execute payment transactions.

A system to check IBANs and a platform to enable payment service providers to share fraud-related information are two proposals around consumer protection, including an extension to all credit transfers of IBAN/name-matching verification services. These have been proposed by the Commission for instant payments in Euro. All consumers should benefit from them, for both regular and instant credit transfers.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) is given once again a number of mandates under PSD3 and the PSR to prepare draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) and draft implementing technical standards (ITS), ultimately to be adopted by the EC, as well as guidelines, and to continue maintaining the register.

In 2024, significant progress was made in updating PSD2. In April 2024, the European Parliament adopted the European Commission’s proposals for PSD3 and PSR at first reading. While the exact timelines for enforcement are not yet confirmed, it is anticipated that the finalised versions of PSD3 and PSR may become available by 2025.

In 2025, the EU made substantial progress toward finalising PSD3 and PSR, marking the next major phase in the evolution of Europe’s payment services framework. In June 2025, the Council of the EU reached agreement on compromise texts for both legislative instruments, subsequently endorsed by COREPER (the Committee of Permanent Representatives), enabling the start of trilogue negotiations with the European Parliament and the European Commission.

These negotiations aim to align positions on key issues, including liability for payment fraud, direct access of non-bank payment service providers to payment systems, and strengthened consumer protection. Final adoption and publication of the legislative package are expected by late 2025, after which the PSR will apply directly across all EU Member States, while PSD3 will require national transposition within approximately 12–18 months. This means the new framework could come into practical effect during 2026–2027.

The 2025 developments reaffirm the EU’s objective to harmonise payment regulation, enhance security and consumer rights, and create a more competitive and innovative payments landscape across the single market.

In 2019, the MNB (Magyar Nemzeti Bank or National Bank of Hungary) stated that it acted in conformity with the final deadline adopted at the European level regarding online payment transactions initiated with payment cards and extended the transition period for introducing strong customer authentication in such payment transactions until 31 December 2020. From a licensing perspective, one major event was the entry into force of Act CCXXXV of 2013 on Certain Payment Service Providers, amended to ensure compliance with the PSD2 Directive.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a legal framework that sets guidelines for the collection and processing of personal information from individuals who live in the European Union (EU). Since the Regulation applies regardless of where websites are based, it must be heeded by all sites that attract European visitors, even if they don’t specifically market goods or services to EU residents.

Adopted in April 2016, the Regulation came into full effect in May 2018, after a two-year transition period. The GDPR replaces the Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC and is designed to:

The GDPR mandates that EU visitors to all websites must be given a number of data disclosures. Sites must also take steps to facilitate such EU consumer rights as timely notification in the event of personal data being breached (breach notification). Among others, the GDPR mandates the user’s right to access their data and the right to be forgotten. In addition, the conditions for consent have been strengthened, and companies are no longer able to use long, illegible terms and conditions full of legalese. Also, it must be as easy to withdraw consent as it is to give it.

eIDAS Regulation and Digital ID Trends

The electronic Identification, Authentication and Trust Services regulation (eIDAS) is a set of EU standards and regulations for electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the European Single Market. It was established in the EU Regulation as of 23 July 2014, relating to electronic identification, and repeals directive 1999/93/EC from December 1999. It entered into force on 17 September 2014 and applies from 1 July 2016 except for certain articles, listed under its article 52.

In June 2021, the European Commission proposed an update to eIDAS that will enable every European to have a set of digital identity credentials recognised anywhere in the EU. In May 2024, Regulation (EU) 2024/1183 entered into force, formally establishing the European Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet under the revised eIDAS 2.0 framework. The regulation requires all EU Member States to provide at least one interoperable digital identity wallet within 24 months of the adoption of the implementing acts, placing the expected rollout across the EU by late 2026.

Throughout 2025, the European Commission has continued to issue implementing regulations defining the wallet’s technical architecture, certification procedures, and security requirements. The framework embeds privacy-by-design, data minimisation, and user consent principles, ensuring data remains under user control and stored locally on the user’s device.

Pilot projects launched between 2023 and 2025 have been finalising testing across Member States to validate interoperability, usability, and cross-border functionality. From 2026 onward, public and private entities that require strong electronic identification will be expected to recognise and accept the EUDI Wallet for secure authentication and digital transactions across the EU.

Many digital ID schemes operate based on super-secure passwords and/or mobile apps confirmed by a second factor, either passwords or one-time token or biometric factors such as fingerprints.

Digital ID in Europe has been proliferating rapidly in recent years. To date, both the nature of these schemes and their application have varied widely – for example, BankIDs in the Nordics being used to support instant payments and the delivery of harmonised government services.

eID platform initiative – In May 2017, a group of European companies including banks, vehicle manufacturers and technology providers signed a “corresponding declaration of intent” to establish a joint, pan-industry platform that will let their customers use a so-called “master key” for registration and identification when accessing online services across a range of sectors including government, aviation and retail.

Biometric Authentication Services

As a form of digital identity, biometric factors have been gaining ground across Europe in recent years, especially since the EU mandated their use for national ID cards and passports from August 2021.

In the payments industry, European banks and other account servicing payment service providers (ASPSPs) have started to support new biometrics technology companies that will develop client identification and authentication systems. They will be dedicated to the research and development of software for the digital verification and authentication of personal identity, through facial, voice, image or document recognition, or fingerprint reading.

With the EU regulator’s decision to mandate Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) as part of the revised payment services directive, PSD2, biometric authentications look set to grow further in importance as part of the payments landscape.

Companies such as Sweden’s Fingerprints (for online payment ID) and the UK’s Fingopay (for physical payments) have pioneered their use in P2P and P2B transactions, while some national ID schemes such as BankID in the Nordics and nemID now include biometric factors alongside PIN in their log-in processes.

Fingerprints (Sweden): Continues to lead development of biometric sensors, especially for fingerprint-enabled payment cards and mobile devices in Europe, supporting both remote (online) payment ID and card-based transactions since 2025.​

Fingopay (UK): Specialises in vein recognition systems for physical payments, with deployments in retail, hospitality, and transport, pioneering biometric authentication for point-of-sale transactions and peer-to-peer (P2P) settings.​

National ID Schemes: Nordic BankID services (Sweden, Norway) and Denmark’s NemID (transitioning to MitID) now commonly offer biometric log-in options—such as face and fingerprint authentication—alongside traditional PIN/password, used for identification in financial, public, and private sector services.

Biometric Authentication in European Payments

Additional Trends and Initiatives for 2025

Mastercard Identity Check – Mastercard launched Identity Check in October 2016, pioneering biometric authentication for online card payments across much of Europe.​ 3D Secure (EMV 3DS) is the framework enabling these secure authentications, often using SMS codes, push approvals, or biometrics (fingerprint/face).​

Since 2024, Mastercard has expanded Identity Attribute Verification services, integrating them with new European Digital Identity Wallet pilot programs. This supports not only consumer-to-merchant payments but also richer identity checks (age, address), further reducing friction without compromising security.​

Today, 2-factor authentication for Mastercard payments may use one-time codes, fingerprint/face recognition in mobile apps, and sometimes dedicated hardware or behavioural biometrics, complying with PSD2’s Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) mandate.​

Mastercard Identity Check (EMV 3-D Secure) is supported in all European Economic Area (EEA) countries, the United Kingdom, and most other European markets, along with global acceptance in North America, APAC, and Latin America through Mastercard’s international network.​

For Europe specifically, this means Mastercard Identity Check is available in at least 30 countries (all EEA states plus the UK, Switzerland, and several others). The number continues to grow with compliance expansion and global merchant adoption.

Banking Sector

The Magyar Nemzeti Bank (MNB) is the national central bank of Hungary. Following the merger of the Hungarian Financial Supervisory Authority (PSZÁF) into the MNB on 1 October 2013, the MNB is now responsible for supervising the banking sector within Hungary. The legal framework in which Hungarian financial institutions and companies operate is based on European Union directives and Hungarian banking laws.

The Hungarian economy and banking system suffered from weak or negative growth and a high level of bad debts in 2009 and 2010, with domestic demand under pressure. An aggravating factor was foreign currency loans taken out before the credit crunch. During the period 2008-2010, around 70% of loans to retail clients were in foreign currency, including Swiss franc loans, and the forint fell over 30% against the Swiss franc at the same time.

The Hungarian economy remained in recession in 2011 and in 2012, but turned around in 2013 supported by exports, agriculture and the public sector. However, the deleveraging process in the banking sector continued until 2014. In 2015, the total banking sector assets recovered slightly, up by 2.6% on 2014 (in euro terms). From 2014/15 onwards, the Hungarian government began the process of converting foreign currency loans into domestic currency, which helped to stabilise the economy. The loan-to-deposit ratio declined from 128% in 2007 to 68% by 2018 due to significant deleveraging of the banking market.

In the long-term, the state has indicated that it plans to increase competition within the financial sector by encouraging sector consolidation and the creation of five major universal commercial banks.

On 4 November 2014, the European Central Bank (ECB), via the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM), assumed the responsibility of supervising the financial stability of banks operating within the euro zone. However, while the ECB has final supervisory authority over all banks operating within the euro zone, it will only directly supervise those banks classified as ‘significant’ under the terms of the SSM (by July 2025, 114 significant banking groups have been recognised). All other ‘less significant’ banks continue to be supervised by the MNB.

In 2020, the central bank reacted to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic with a series of coordinated steps and targeted measures, including the modification and expansion of its monetary policy instruments, to provide the necessary liquidity to economic participants and mitigated the adverse economic impact of the pandemic. As a result, annual GDP in 2020 declined by 5.0%. In 2021, Hungary was among the fastest economies to recover in Europe, with GDP reaching pre-crisis levels in Q2. Year-on-year GDP growth stood at 6%. In 2022, GDP growth came in at 4.6% driven by increased private consumption buoyed by pre-election stimulus. In 2023, Hungary’s economy experienced a contraction, with the GDP decreasing by 0.9% due to high inflation and the attendant monetary policy tightening that suppressed consumer spending and investments. In 2024, the economy rebounded marginally by 0.5% and this modest growth was driven mainly by domestic consumption, while investment and exports remained subdued.

Inflation amounted to 3.3% in 2020, mainly due to higher prices of industrial goods. In 2021, consumer prices expanded by 5.1% overall, caused by the inflationary effects of restarting the economy, the raising of excise duties, and growing global commodity prices increasingly fuelling the rise in consumer prices. By 2022, inflation worsened to 14.61% due to rising food and energy prices (exacerbated by Russia’s war in Ukraine), drought, and supply bottlenecks. By 2023, inflation spiked to 17.14% due to significant increases in food and energy prices as well as supply chain disruptions. In 2024, inflation eased to 3.7% reflecting easing price pressures as energy and food inflation cooled and monetary tightening began to feed through.

Structure

In 2024, there were 18 commercial banks, 10 specialised credit institutions, and nine foreign bank branches. There were also five representative offices of foreign banks as of 2024. The domestic ownership of local lenders accounts for 67.8% of total banking-sector assets in 2024. Two new branches were created in the financial market sector in 2020. China Construction Bank (Europe), registered in Luxembourg, established a credit institution branch in Hungary, primarily seeking to focus on corporate lending.

During 2020, a joint memorandum of understanding was signed in May 2020 by MKB Bank and MTB Magyar Takarékszövetkezeti Bank (MTB) to establish Magyar Bank Holding (MBH), which was later joined by Budapest Bank. The MBH was formally established in December 2020.

The MNB monitored implementation of the scheduled integration of the non-resident companies acquired by the OTP Group in 2019. In 2020, the integration processes were successfully completed in Albania, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Slovenia. In addition to the acquisitions, in November 2020 OTP announced that OTP Bank Slovakia had left the Group.

The Hungarian banking sector was affected by the war through the failure of Sberbank Europe following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. The Hungarian affiliate of Sberbank was exposed to a one-off shock that hit both assets and liabilities at the same time, which undermined its solvency, and therefore the MNB withdrew its operating licence, and dissolution proceedings were launched against Sberbank. MKB completed the takeover of Sberbank Hungary in August 2022.

During 2021, Erste Bank Hungary announced the acquisition of the Hungarian subsidiary of Commerzbank. Magnet Bank acquired Sopron Bank. In December 2021, MKB Bank, Budapest Bank and Magyar Takarék Bankholding, which owns MTB, approved the first step of the merger timetable of Budapest Bank, MKB Bank and the MTB. Budapest Bank and MKB Bank were scheduled to merge in March 2022, while the MTB was scheduled to join the merged bank by the end of Q2 2023. In January 2022, the NBH approved the merger of Budapest Bank and Magyar Takarék Bankholding, which owns MTB, into MKB Bank as of March 2022. The merged bank will temporarily operate under the name MKB Bank Nyrt.

During Q3, OTP Bank Nyrt was granted permission to acquire a qualifying holding in a Chinese joint venture.

In January 2023, the MNB approved the merger of Takarékbank Zrt into MKB Bank Nyrt with effect from 30 April 2023. The merger does not imply any change in the ownership structure of the banking group, the dominant shareholder of the banks involved in the merger process will remain MBH. The legal merger was completed on April 30, 2023, and MBH Bank commenced operations on May 1, 2023.

All major banks other than MKB Bank, Budapest Bank, and MFB Hungarian Development Bank are foreign controlled. In 2024, the five largest banks had a market share of 59.3%.

1 - Main Hungarian Banks (2024)
BankOwnershipAssets (HUFbn)Assets (€bn)Market share
OTP Bankforeign investors: 56.31%, Domestic investor: 43.54, others: 0.15% 18,391 46.5223.1%
MBH BankInvestors: 88.98%, Free float 11.02% 12,505 31.6315.7%
Kereskedelmi es Hitel Bank (K&H)KBC Bank Group (B) 6,061 15.337.6%
UniCredit Bank Hungary (UBH)UniCredit Group (I) 5,194 13.146.5%
Erste Bank Hungary (EBH)Erste Group (A) 5,011 12.686.3%
Raiffeisen Bank (RBH)Raiffeisen Bank Intern. (A) 4,615 11.685.8%
CIB BankIntesa Sanpaolo Group (I) 3,463 8.764.4%
MFB Hungarian Development BankState-owned 3,838 9.714.8%
Budapest BankState-owned
other banksvarious 20,466 51.7725.7%
Total assets 79,544 201.22100.0%
Note: assets have been converted from HUF to Euro using ECB average annual exchange rate for 2021. Total banking assets €174bn at end-2021.
The merger of Budapest Bank on 31 March 2022 had a significant impact on MKB's 2022 figures, both in the items of profit and in the financial situation. The total assets of the Bank increased by HUF 4,148.6 billion to HUF 7 468.8 billion by the end of 2022.
Note: MBH acquired MKB, Budapest Bank and MTB in December 2020.
Source: PCM research.

OTP Bank, the former state savings bank, is the largest Hungarian bank and one of the top ten CEE banks. Unlike most other CEE-based banks, OTP has emulated western competitors by expanding in the region and describes its strategy as building a retail-focused regional bank. OTP’s market share in Hungary is around 30% of household deposits and household loans. It reported 317 branches serving 4.0 million retail customers and 0.3 million corporate customers in Hungary at end-2024. In March 2024, the first OTP Mobile Bank Branch was launched in Hungary, providing personal service in towns without a bank branch. By the end of 2024, three mobile buses were operating across the country.

At end-2024, OTP was 43.54% domestically owned, and 56.31% owned by foreign investors.

OTP Expansion in CEE – OTP’s foreign acquisitions were launched with dskbank, the biggest retail bank in Bulgaria, against competition from Erste Bank of Austria, and DSK remains its biggest interest. OTP has also completed a number of smaller acquisitions: Niska banka, Kulska banka and Zepter banka in Serbia (now amalgamated into OTP banka Srbija), CKB in Montenegro, Nova banka in Croatia (now OTP banka Hrvatska), IRB in Slovakia (OTP Banka Slovensko).

OTP bought Investsberbank in Russia for $470 million in 2006, following this up with the purchase of Donskoy Narodniy Bank for $41 million in 2007; the two banks were merged and are now called OAO OTP Bank.

OTP also launched OTP Bank Romania and entered Ukraine by buying the wholly owned subsidiary of Raiffeisen International for €650 million. In July 2008, OTP and Groupama, the French insurance group, announced a strategic cooperation agreement across CEE, Russia and Ukraine; Groupama also took an 8% shareholding in OTP.

In May 2017, OTP Bank completed its acquisition of 100% of the shares in Croatian Splitska Banka, which merged with OTP Banka Hrvatska by end-December 2018. In December 2017, OTP Bank acquired the Serbian Vojvodjanska banka from National Bank of Greece for €125 million.

In 2018 OTP Bank continued its regional acquisition activity, announcing in August the acquisition of Société Générale’s Bulgarian and Albanian operations and in December its Serbian operation. In July 2019 OTP Bank announced the acquisition of both Moldova’s Mobiasbanca and Societe Generale Banka Montenegro, followed by the December 2019 acquisition of Slovenia’s SKB Banka. The latter transaction was completed in January 2020.

In Bulgaria, the integration process was finished in May 2020. In Montenegro the merger of two banks was finished in December 2020. In Serbia, integration with Vojvođanska banka was closed in 2021. In Slovenia, Albania and Moldova, alignment processes of newly acquired banks were finalised. The sale of the Slovakian subsidiary was announced at the beginning of 2020 and was completed in November 2020.

At end-2024, OTP had almost 17 million banking clients in 11 countries. The bank and its Hungarian subsidiaries served more than 4.3 million clients in total.

2 - OTP’s Regional Network 2024
CountryBranchesATMsPOS
OTP BankHungary3171,931170,708
dskbankBulgaria27897019,532
OTP Banka HrvatskaCroatia10544511,686
OTP Banka RomaniaRomania---
CJSC OTP BankUkraine70172350
OAO OTP BankRussia78128104
OTP Banka SrbijaSerbia15528724,263
CKBMontenegro261099,289
OTP Bank AlbaniaAlbania501062,046
MobiasbancaMoldova511610
Subsidiaries total9343,614126,290
Group total1,2515,545296,998
Note: the sale of OTP Banka Slovensko to KBC Group was finalised in November 2020.
Note: the Moldovan and Albanian banks were consolidated in 2019.
Note: In 2018, OTP acquired Société Générale’s Bulgarian and Serbian operations.
Note: In 2024, OTP Group closed the sale of OTP Bank Romania to Banca Transilvania
Source: OTP annual report.

K&H Bank (K&H), the second biggest by total bank assets, is wholly owned by KBC of Belgium, which bought ABN Amro’s 40% stake in 2006; K&H had previously merged with Magyar Bank, which ABN Amro controlled. K&H reported 193 bank branches, nearly 550 ATMs, and 1 million banking customers and more than 770,000 were digitally active clients, as of 2024.

UniCredit Bank Hungary (UBH) is the third largest bank by total bank assets. The predecessor of UBH was established in 1990 by Austrian Creditanstalt Rt. At the end of 2024, more than 320,000 customers including 33,000 micro-businesses and more than 2,000 private banking customers of UBH were served by its 50 branches.

In 2024, the bank maintained 84 ATMs suitable for cash deposits.

Erste Bank (EBH) – In 2003, Erste Bank surprised the market with its aggressive bid to acquire Postabank, then the ninth-biggest Hungarian bank, which was being privatised. Erste bid HUF 101 billion (€400 million), 2.7 times book value. Other bidders in the process were Bank Austria and GE Money’s Budapest Bank. In 2024, Erste had 98 Hungarian branches and served 1 million customers, 525,000 of which were regularly salaried clients. The bank reached 500,000 active clients in 2021, of which 60% were retail customers. In September 2015, Erste bought the retail banking business of the Citibank branch Hungary, including the card portfolio.

George, Erste Group’s digital banking platform introduced in Hungary in 2021, further strengthened the group’s digital footprint, end-to-end sales capabilities, and servicing functionalities: 555,000 customers, about two-thirds of the retail clients, actively used George at the end of 2022. By 2023, about 70% of the bank’s customers in Hungary used George. By 2024, the group reported 11 million users of George, up from 9.7 million in 2023.

Raiffeisen (RBH) – RBI Group’s first-ever venture into Eastern Europe was the formation of its Hungarian bank ‘Unicbank’ in 1986. At end-2022, RBH reported more than 500,000 customers, including individuals and SMEs. In 2024, Raiffeisen operated 73 branches in Hungary. In 2024, RBH reported that the number of retail individual (Mass) and Premium banking customers was 2% higher than in 2023.

CIB Bank, originally part-owned by the MNB, was acquired by Milan-based Banca Commerciale Italiana, now Intesa Sanpaolo. In 2023, CIB had 60 Hungarian branches, and 120 ATMs and serviced more than 455,736 customers.

MBH Bank – MKB Bank has undergone many ownership changes over the past decade. Until 2014, it was owned by Hungarian BayernLB (98.56%) until it was sold to the state for €55 million. MKB had been responsible for BayernLB’s banks in Bulgaria and Romania.

After being monitored by the NBH and the European Commission, a consortium of private equity owners took control of the bank in 2016. Various stakes were sold over the next four years. As of December 2019, the bank was publicly listed on the Budapest Stock Exchange, and its shareholders were: METIS (35%), Blue Robin Investments (32.9%), RKOFIN (13.6%), EIRENE (9.99%), with a free float of 8.48%.

In December 2021, MKB Bank, Budapest Bank, and Magyar Takarék Bankholding, which owns MTB, approved the first step of the merger timetable of Budapest Bank, MKB Bank, and the MTB. Budapest Bank and MKB Bank were scheduled to merge in March 2022, while the MTB was scheduled to join the merged bank by the end of Q2 2023. In January 2022, the NBH approved the merger of Budapest Bank and Magyar Takarék Bankholding, which owns MTB, into MKB Bank as of March 2022. The merged bank will temporarily operate under the name MKB Bank Nyrt. MKB completed the takeover of Sberbank Hungary in August 2022.

In December 2022, the supreme bodies of MKB Bank and Takarékbank Zrt adopted the proposals for the merger of the two member banks as part of the implementation of the second step of the merger schedule of MBH. According to the decisions of the General Meetings, the two member banks of the banking group, MKB Bank Nyrt, and Takarékbank Zrt, will merge on 30 April 2023, and will then continue their operations under the name MBH Bank Nyrt, with a single brand name and image. In January 2023, the NBH approved the merger of Takarékbank Zrt into MKB Bank Nyrt with effect from 30 April 2023. The merger does not imply any change in the ownership structure of the banking group, the dominant shareholder of the banks involved in the merger process will remain MBH. MBH held a 99.12% direct ownership interest in MKB Bank as of the end of 2022.

The merged bank continued to operate under the name of MKB Bank until 30 April 2023, when the merger with Takarékbank was completed on 1 May 2023, it began to operate under the name of MBH Bank.

With this move, Hungary’s second-largest banking group was created. The new Bank Group served 1.9 million customers, 200,000 micro-enterprises, 30,000 SMEs, and 6,000 private banking partners via more than 500 branches in 2022. In 2024, the bank reported 397 branches as the bank now claims to own the largest branch network in Hungary after the merger. The bank also operated nearly 1,000 ATMs across the country, claiming second place in the market. MBH now serves 2.5 million retail and corporate customers in Hungary.

Sberbank Hungary – As of November 2012, the Austrian Volksbank International AG (VBI) and previously the Eastern Europe banking subsidiary of Volksbank AG (OeVAG) became Sberbank Europe AG. In November 2013, Volksbank Hungary was rebranded Sberbank Hungary. In 2021, the bank operated 27 branches servicing around more than 70,000 customers.

The Hungarian affiliate of Sberbank had its MNB licence withdrawn following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, and dissolution proceedings were launched against Sberbank. MKB completed the takeover of Sberbank Hungary in August 2022.

Citibank, present since 1985, expanded its network with acquisitions, including ING’s branches and consumer lending business in 2000. Citi in Hungary operated as a branch office of the Irish based Citibank Europe plc since January 2009 as the Citibank Europe plc Hungarian Branch Office. In September 2015, Citibank Europe sold its Hungarian retail banking and card business to Erste Bank Hungary. Effective 2019, Citibank continued its corporate business and operates one of its largest European service centres in Hungary, which is a key focus of its business going forward.

In contrast, HSBC, which gained a presence in Hungary through its 2001 purchase of Beneficial, said in May 2009 that following a review it would wind down its Hungarian retail lending operations. In 2012 HSBC exited the Hungarian market.

Digital Banking

All Hungarian retail banks offer online banking services and mobile banking apps to their clients. Services available include balance and transaction reporting and both domestic and cross-border payment initiation. At end-2024, around 67% of all Hungarians were e-banking users.

At the end of 2023, the number of payment accounts managed by domestic payment service providers increased by 2.2% to almost 11 million. 84.3% of these accounts are now accessible via online or mobile banking services. In 2024, MNB reported that the number of bank accounts held by Hungarian payment service providers increased by 2.8% and the share of accounts accessible by via the internet or mobile banking apps increased by 1 percentage point to 85.4%. The share of household accounts using mobile banking app credit transfers rose significantly, by 3.2 percentage points, and consequently more than one-third (34%) of household bank accounts are now used via apps, while 42% of household bank accounts were used to initiate instant credit transfers during the year.

There is no bank-independent electronic banking standard in Hungary. However, many banks offer the MultiCash standard platform alongside their own proprietary systems for corporate banking purposes.

The leading banks offer electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP) services, used by numerous multinational companies in Hungary.

Mobile banking apps with added mobile money transfer services include all Hungarian banks and PayPal.

In April 2020, the MNB was the first central bank to publish a specialised FinTech and Digitalisation Report, intended to become a regular publication, in which it presented the most important FinTech trends, and provided a comprehensive and detailed analysis of the Hungarian FinTech ecosystem and a detailed assessment of the level and maturity of digitalisation of the Hungarian banking system.

The Hungarian FinTech Association, which is supposed to act as a think-tank of the sector, was established in early 2020. The MNB has also launched the MNB Innovation Hub, which aims to connect players in the FinTech sector, and it has also set up a so-called regulatory sandbox where new regulatory and innovative solutions can be tested more easily.

In 2023, the MNB reported that the domestic FinTech sector consolidated in 2024 after the rapid expansion of previous years. The number of companies operating in Hungary decreased to 210. As of 2024, MNB reported that 45% of Hungarian-owned FinTech firms founded after 2013 had received at least one VC investment within their first seven years. VC activity significantly declined in recent years; the number of deals fell sharply across the ICT sector and within FinTech. Overall VC deal volume and count fell sharply in 2024, limiting new investments.

As a player in the international innovation ecosystem, the MNB is also an active member of the Global Financial Innovation Network (GFIN). The MNB chatbot, which has been active since December 2020, was expanded in 2021 to include more information on central bank areas. The MNB was a pioneer among European central banks in introducing its own chatbot. The Pallas Athéné pilot chatbot project supports the strengthening of Hungarian artificial intelligence innovation efforts with the involvement of Hungarian FinTech players. With the 2021 knowledge base enhancements, the MNB’s chatbot project is available in five dedicated topics (financial innovation, consumer protection, supervisory licensing, statistics, and the electronic system for receiving authenticated data (ERA)) complementing the initial three, but the MNB is continuously exploring the possibility of further enhancements.

Erste MobilePay App – In March 2014, Erste MobilePay was launched in Hungary and is available to Erste Bank customers with iOS or Android-based phones. The app offers a range of useful functions, such as bill payment and top-up, as well as GPS-based parking and highway toll payment. In addition, Erste MobilePay also offers peer-to-peer transactions, i.e. users can securely send and receive funds on their phone. In May 2019, NFC functionality was added to Erste MobilePay.

In 2018, Erste launched its new mobile banking app George in Hungary. From May 2019, the Mobile Pay function of George supports mobile HCE NFC payments on cards.

George, Erste Group’s digital platform, is already available in Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, and Croatia and has been available in Hungary since early 2021. Customers can activate applications of Erste Group or third parties via plug-ins and use them to manage their finances. As of the end of 2023, about 70% of the retail clients, actively used George.

OTP Bank – In 2021, OTP Bank announced the SmartBank mobile app’s phase-out for retail customers, to be replaced with Digital Contract’s new channels, OTP internet, and mobile banking applications. By the end of 2023, nearly 2 million OTP customers registered for the new Digital Contract, which allows them to sign up for further digital services via fully online processes. The number of OTP mobile banking app users doubled in the last two years, exceeding 1.6 million users in 2021.

In 2022, OTP Bank developed a unique electronic document signing option for the users of the InternetBank. Taking advantage of the strong customer authentication of the netbank platform, clients can sign on their contracts initiated in the Contact Center. Similarly, the ratio of personal loan applications submitted online has risen from 30% to almost 40% in 2022.

In 2021 new end-to-end processes were launched, such as online personal loan requests, instalment payments for credit cards, QR payment of postal cheques, and Open Banking to view foreign bank account balances.

OTP launched its new banking chat platform extension to serve several clients’ needs and automated the most common topics. 15 new automated chatbot processes went live in 2021, available 24/7 for customer interaction. Also, front-end customer service functions such as video calling for customer consultations were launched in 2021. Most popular topics raised with customer service are managed by chatbots: by 2022 the bank had 35 live end-to-end chatbot processes which provide clients with automated support around the clock.

K&H Bank – In Q4 2021, K&H introduced smartwatch payment solutions such as Google Pay and Garmin Pay, and K&H reported that over 1.6 million payments were made on a monthly basis with smartphones overall in 2021. During the year, K&H became the first financial institution in Hungary to introduce an investment fund determined with the help of Artificial Intelligence-controlled models. In August 2022, K&H crossed the level of 3 million transactions per month paid by customers with Apple, Google, Xiaomi, and Garmin Pay.

In 2023, K&H bank stated that is a growing demand for digital banking and insurance solutions, with customers becoming increasingly receptive to them. K&H had about 770,000 digitally active customers in 2024 who carry out 2.5 million transactions per month. More than 700,000 customers use the K&H mobile bank, and more than 2 million money-transfer transactions happen every month via the mobile app. The value of transactions through mobile payment solutions in 2021 reached HUF 85.5 billion (+67% from 2020). In November 2022, K&H introduced Kate, its AI-driven digital personal assistant, that mobile bank customers can use as out-of-the-box feature, based on customers’ context. Kate will analyse all available data, will send relevant and valuable message, helping the bank and the customers save time and money. By 2023, two-third of its digital banking customers have already tried the services of Kate. Kate handles 150 000 interactions and shows card details 60,000 times per month. She also helps with a total of 320 functions, taking out insurance, managing loans, starting savings and investments as well as activates and digitizes bankcards and handles almost two thirds of all transactions autonomously.

UniCredit Bank – UniCredit launched Apple Pay services for customers in October 2021 and Google Pay in November 2021.

In 2023, the focus remained on digitalisation, increasing the number of fully digitally processed bank account openings, and improving customer experience by incorporating a number of lessons learned into the bank’s processes. In 2024, nearly 1.4 million individual visitors visited the bank’s website; interest in online account opening and personal loans increased steadily. Over 90% of the clientele of retail and small business customers could conduct transactions via telephone banking. UniCredit further developed its mobile banking app according to its Mobile 2.0 Strategy. Customers using an activated mobile banking application could receive push notifications about their debit and credit card transactions, incoming transactions, expiring deposits, or declined and cancelled account transactions and orders.

The number of customers using the mobile banking service at least once a month reached nearly 190,000 in 2024. The cardless cash withdrawal service (mCash) continues to be available in the mobile application, allowing for cash withdrawals from any local UniCredit ATM without using a bank card.

As a result of the developments in PSD2 regulations, UniCredit’s mToken service allowed customers to authenticate their transactions initiated on the eBanking Internet banking interface.

Raiffeisen Bank – During 2021, Raiffeisen introduced several new digital developments, leading to a significant increase in the number of digital solutions used by customers, such as the instant video banking solution RaiConnect. The bank’s share in online account openings also increased significantly. In H1 2021 Raiffeisen launched online bank account opening for retail clients and further increased the video banking service model. Furthermore, the RaiConnect service could be launched from the myRaiffeisen mobile app.

Raiffeisen supported the use of banking services provided to SME business clients by continuous development of digital channels, including the VideoBank service and myRaiffeisen mobile app, widening the scope of the electronic services (SME ON online bank account opening), the introduction of the Scan&Go mobile payment app, QR code payment and application for payment, and the expansion of the myPOS card acceptance service.

CIB Bank – The CIB Bank Mobile Application was expanded in 2018 with new features, including the management of insurances, investments, deposits, or SEPA transfers. With the #withPAY service, which is a pioneering solution on the Hungarian market, customers can use their phone’s contact list to initiate transfers between each other, without knowing the recipient’s bank account number.

As of 2024, CIB Bank offers Apple Pay and Instant Payment services to its customers, alongside its core CIB Mobile app, CIB Bank Online, CIB Mobilbank and CIB Internet Bank platforms.

MBH Bank – During 2021, the implementation of the digital strategy and the digital transformation of customer experience continued, the primary goal being to enhance customer experience, introduce new digital products, and to expand cooperation with partners. MKB deployed new functions in several channels and increased its share of digital sales.

MKB enhanced its mobile payment service in 2021, by integrating services through a single app and enabling users to digitise bank cards within the app. In 2022, the number of active users of the mobile app increased by 15%, the number of Apple Pay users increased by 46% while the number of cards digitized for Android payment grew by 64%. Customers actively use electronic channels for daily banking. In 2023, Google Pay was implemented for all cards. Google’s own mobile payment solution, Google Pay, has been made available to MBH Bank customers for all Mastercard and Visa retail debit and credit cards. Google Pay was still supported by MBH in 2024. As a novelty in the Netbankár channel, QR code-based login to Netbankár was made available in H2 2021, providing a faster and more secure way for customers to log in. In 2021, MKB renewed its entire ATM network with touchscreen devices, tap-and-go card readers, and cash deposits via ATM were also made possible.

In 2022, the group’s website was moved to a platform in the CMS system running in AWS, which greatly facilitates the integration and timely completion of the rebranding. The number of monthly visitors increased by 30% last year, reaching 820,000 monthly visitors by the end of the year. In August 2023, the Bank launched, first in the Hungarian financial market, the Mastercard Touch Card, an accessible bank card for blind and partially sighted people. The Touch Card debit and credit cards have notches on the side to help distinguish between the cards and how to insert them into the card reader.

About Open API Standards

In June 2017, the Berlin Group, the European payments interoperability coalition of banks and payment processors with membership comprising bank backed ACHs and industry bodies, announced it would push a single standard for API access to bank accounts (XS2A) compliant with the PSD2 regulation.

The Berlin Group says its NextGenPSD2 Initiative provides a harmonised API standard for accessing bank accounts. Built as an ‘Access to Account Framework’, The Berlin Group says the standard offers operational rules and implementation guidelines with detailed data definitions, message modelling and information flows based on RESTful API methodology.

As of the beginning of 2021, the Berlin Group NextGenPSD2 was implemented in all EU countries, in several non-EU countries in Europe and in countries outside Europe who are focused on maintaining reachability and compatibility with the European market. Around 80% of European banks and hundreds of third-party providers (TPPs) have implemented the Berlin Group NextGenPSD2 Framework. In 2021, the group was migrated to the Open Finance task force to explore use cases of Open Banking schemes and Open Finance schemes.

Among others, European Open API sets include Open Banking UK, Swiss Corporate API, and STET Open API (F, B).

At the beginning of 2019, MKB Bank opened its Application Programming Interface (API), creating an opportunity to develop new secure FinTech solutions.

Dominated by foreign-owned bank groups, Hungarian banks have developed online banking services, mobile card payment apps and Open Banking at the level of individual bank, along with the new domestic immediate payment scheme. The new payment system operates 24/7/365 and settles all single credit transfers up to the value of HUF 10 million within five seconds. It will also enable consumers to initiate instant credit transfers using just a mobile telephone number – meaning that the payer does not need to know the payee’s bank account details to transfer funds.

In 2019, Hungarian banks began to add account information services to their individual online banking services and mobile banking apps. From a pan-European perspective, Hungarian banks have created in-house PISP and AISP services. The next step is the transformation of domestic payment solutions into omnichannel payment services fit for the digital economy. With the advent of PSD2, Hungarian banks have begun to push for digital credit transfer payments and mobile P2P payments.

As of 2024, there were eight Open Banking providers, seven third-party providers, 32 bank APIs, and 19 API aggregators. There were also 90 third-party providers passported in Hungary, and five Open Banking licences for AISPs.

There are several important updates and recent details to add regarding Open API standards and Open Banking in Europe and Belgium. As of 2024, the Berlin Group, along with other standardisation initiatives, has significantly advanced Open API and Open Finance frameworks, resulting in broader industry adoption and interoperability.​

Berlin Group and OpenFinance API Framework

European Open API Sets and Industry Expansion

These developments mark a transition from PSD2-driven access to a much wider Open Finance landscape, with almost universal bank API implementation, extensive support for business and consumer account types, and expanding services enabling secure, data-driven payments and financial innovations across Belgium and greater Europe.

Payment Services

In Hungary, the law on payment services adopted the EU payment services directive (PSD) and the EU interchange fee regulation (IFR). Hungary has also adopted the PSD2.

In 2025, the more than 300 different payment services offered in Europe can be grouped into:

Card Brands and Card Types

At present, there is no national debit card scheme in Hungary, and all retail banks issue debit cards and credit cards with Mastercard or VISA brands.

Hungarian card products like consumer cards, commercial cards and purchasing cards range from classic cards to gold cards and to platinum cards. Additional card features (e.g. picture cards, bonus points, PIN selection at ATMs, cashback, card control by SMS notification and other in-app controls like geo blocking) are used to attract cardholders. Also, individual picture cards and collector cards are issued on demand.

The EMV migration has achieved 84% by end-2012 and was completed in 2013.

From July 2023, banks and other card issuers will no longer issue Maestro cards. Instead, they will need to issue Debit Mastercard. Maestro was launched in 1991 and was the world’s first debit card that could be used via an online network. About 400 million Maestro cards are in circulation worldwide, mainly across Europe. However, Maestro is not enabled for the demands of e-commerce and cannot be used for online or in-app payments, hence the decision to phase it out in favour of Mastercard Debit products. Visa announced that Electron cards will be phased out globally in 2024. The features of the Visa Debit card have been modified to match the features of the Visa Electron card.

Debit cards issued are VISA Debit and Debit Mastercard cards. There are no V PAY cards in issue.

Credit Cards issued are cards branded VISA and Mastercard. OTP Bank previously issued American Express cards until 2017, and American Express cards are no longer issued by banks in Hungary. There are no JCB or Diners Club cards in issue.

Prepaid Cards – Most Hungarian banks issue prepaid cards and virtual cards for internet use.

Co-branded cards – In Hungary, several banks issue co-branded cards. Co-branded cards are based on the international card brands Mastercard or VISA (2020: 644,095).

Hungarian banks issuing co-branded cards together with their non-bank partners include OTP Bank, MKB Bank, Budapest Bank, K&H Bank, CIB Bank, Erste Bank, Raiffeisen (RBH), UniCredit Bank (UBH) and Magyar Cetelem Bank. Hungarian banks also issue private label store cards on behalf of retailers, petrol companies and other non-banks.

Co-brand partners include retailers like IKEA, Praktiker, petrol companies like MOL and SHELL, the airline WizzAir, mobile network operators like Telekom/T-Mobile, Telenor, and others.

Contactless Cards and form-factors

The roll-out of contactless cards has gained momentum. Contactless PayPass and payWave functions were added to debit, credit, and prepaid cards under one of the Mastercard or VISA brands respectively. The contactless card form factors issued include mini-cards, PayPass watches, NFC stickers (2011), and Mastercard Mobile (2011). According to MNB, there were 9.57 million contactless cards at end-2024, up 2.18% from 2023. As a result, their share of total payment cards reached 93.08% in 2024. Nearly 98.0%, equivalent to 299,039 POS terminals supported contactless payment.

According to the MNB, as of 2021, a significant portion of payment card purchases were concentrated in the value categories below HUF 50,000, where the ratio of the use of contactless was above 97%. In a breakdown of card purchases by value categories, 61% of transactions were below HUF 5,000 and 80% of them were below HUF 10,000 in 2021. In Q4 2021, in the value ranges between HUF 5,000 and HUF 10,000 and between HUF 10,000 and HUF 50,000, the ratio of contactless purchases was 3 and 4 percentage points higher respectively from 2020.

According to the MNB, in 2022, payments by card through the internet also became increasingly popular and the number of card payments through the Internet increased by 19% in 2022. Within all card payments, the ratio of card payments through the Internet is higher in the higher value categories, although the ratio of payments in shops is still higher in all value categories.

Predefined contactless limits – Contactless payments for purchases below a predefined limit are without PIN or signature and without transaction receipt. In Hungary, the contactless limit for payments without PIN/signature was set at HUF 5,000 for cards with PayPass or payWave function. In March 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the MNB called for the limit to be raised from HUF 5,000 to HUF 15,000 to encourage more non-cash transactions. As a result, almost 90% of contactless purchases fell into the range of transactions that can be carried out without the handling of the POS terminal by the customer without physical contact.

Interchange Fee Arrangements

International and Intra European Non-EEA Interchange Fees are set by the members of the international card schemes to be applied in case of cross-border transactions or foreign cards used in Hungary, respectively.

In Hungary, domestic Merchant Interchange Fee (DMIF) rates for Hungarian cards are defined by Mastercard and VISA, respectively. The interchange fee regulation 2015/751/EU applies for Hungarian card business.

The interchange fees for domestic card-based payment transactions on consumer cards are capped as follows:

These caps apply to all Hungarian-issued consumer cards, regardless of scheme (Visa, Mastercard).

What’s not capped:

Commercial cards (Visa Business, Mastercard Corporate) – typically carry higher interchange (often 1.0–2.0%+ depending on product).

American Express – As a result of the EU regulation of interchange fees (IFR), American Express elected to exit all of its bank licensing arrangements in the European Union. This means that they have terminated all licenses with its existing EU partners, stopped issuing new cards and are in the final stages of the process of closing down all operations directly related to bank licensing. Over the course of 2019, American Express credit cards issued under independent operator agreements were rendered invalid in all countries of the European Union. Various banks that have up to now had exclusive licensing contracts with American Express have already responded accordingly and provided their clients with the opportunity to switch to other card brands.

From 2020, American Express Payments Europe is now the sole issuer and acquirer of American Express cards in Europe, including Hungary. However, American Express Payments Europe continues its local sales partner arrangements with local acquirers enabling the use of American Express cards at ATMs and POS terminals.

E-Money 

In Hungary, the law on e-money services adopted the e-money directive of the EU (EMD).

At the end of 2024, there were two e-money institutions resident in Hungary and licensed by MNB.

Additionally, software-based e-money e-/m-wallet services are also offered by 188 international payment service providers and e-wallet issuers from the EEA region. They provided notification of operating in Hungary under the EU passport system.

Prepaid Products – In December 2012, paysafecard launched its prepaid products in Hungary. paysafecard prepaid products are specially used for the purchase of digital goods on the internet. It is issued via an e-money license held by a subsidiary of paysafecard group, the Prepaid Services Company Ltd (UK). More than 170 OMV petrol stations were the first local outlets in Hungary offering paysafecard right from the start.

Digital Account-to-Account Payment Services 

In the Yearbooks, account-based payment services are classified as IBAN-based payment services in SCT/SDD format offered by banks or by independent payment initiation service providers (PISP).

Credit transfers are used for low-value retail payments and high-value corporate transactions. Credit transfers are used by the government and companies for salary, supplier and benefit payments. They can be paper-based or automated. Hungary is a part of the SEPA initiative for EUR-denominated retail payments. All Hungarian banks participate in the SEPA Credit Transfer Scheme (SCT) for transactions in euro currency.

Direct debits are available in Hungary and used for low-value recurring payments such as utility bills. SEPA Direct Debit (SDD) payments are available for transactions in euro currency, since November 2010. On 1 November 2014, banks outside the euro zone were required to accept SEPA direct debits. Most Hungarian banks accept SDD payments in euro currency.

Instant payments (SCTINST) is the IBAN-based immediate payment scheme in Europe, officially launched in November 2017. It makes funds immediately available to the beneficiary – compliant with existing SCT infrastructure. The regulators require all banks to offer Instant Payments from 2018.

Among others, the characteristics of SCTINST include an initial maximum of €15,000 with the funds made available on the beneficiary’s account in less than ten seconds, 24/7/365 real-time processing, and immediate refunds in the case that the SCTINST payment was not successful. From July 2020, the maximum amount for instant payments will be €100,000.

Chaired by the ECB, in 2014, the Euro Retail Payments Board (ERPB) identified the need for a pan-European instant euro payment solution. In April 2016, EBA Clearing started the SCTINST project with more than 40 large European banks involved. In November 2016, the European Payments Council (EPC) published the SCTINST scheme and SCTINST rule books version 1.0 while the ERPB provided the governance model. In November 2017, EBA Clearing completed the pan-European instant payments infrastructure, RT1.

SEPA credit transfers and direct debits can be settled on a same-day or next-day basis. In 2024, about 50% of all IBAN-based payments in Europe were processed intra-day, or even immediately inside of the same bank group. Potential first use cases for SCTINST in Hungary may include P2P, mobile banking apps, online payments, and B2B.

As of June 2025, 2,765 banks from 36 European countries had registered for the SCTINST scheme. This represents 78% of all SCT scheme participants.

Hungarian Instant Payment Systems – The MNB-owned CSM mechanism GIRO Zrt processes the instant payment system, AZUR, which allows consumers to initiate instant payments using only the mobile phone number of the recipient. From 2019, the AZUR service allows for payments of up to HUF 10 million to be made in five seconds, and it is in line with the instant payment service standard, SCTINST (see GIRO Zrt and AZUR below).

In June 2017, an instant payments solution provider, Icon Solutions, partnered with T-Systems Hungary (owner: Magyar Telekom) to provide an instant payment framework (IPF), which provides integration with FinTech partners with reusable Open API processing layer that supports digital services. It operates via mobile phone wallets and the SMS system, allowing consumers to bypass the previously complicated 24-digit bank account ID system. It became accessible by all domestic bank clients uniformly and with full functionality from 2 March 2020.

Due to regulations implemented by the MNB, all banks and other payment service providers introduced the service simultaneously. As a result of this, in the first three months after launch in March 2020, HUF 3,800 billion was settled by instant payments.

According to the MNB, in 2020 94 million transfers were completed for a total amount of HUF 14,414 billion. Six months after it became available, on 1 September 2020, the service entered its second phase as the range of items submittable for processing expanded to include new transaction types. In this context, additional types of transactions, typically used by companies, could be processed in the system based on the favourable experiences from operation and in line with the original plans. The transfers processed by payment service providers en-masse (e.g. corporate batch transfers) and corporate batch requests-to-pay can now be sent to the instant payment system.

During 2021, the MNB commenced the third phase of the development of the instant payment ecosystem through regulatory steps and enhancements needed for a faster spreading of end-user solutions. The MNB is primarily striving to explore the opportunities inherent in the domestic QR code standard and request-to-pay service as efficiently as possible. Within that, the MNB’s main goal is to terminate market fragmentation by regulating the QR code reading ability and the ability to receive request-to-pay messages.

In 2024, customers initiated 476 million credit transfers for the value of HUF 1,162 trillion, representing an increase of 6.39% for volume and a decrease of 30.86% in value terms compared to 2023. For the first time, in 2022, the value of credit transfers increased even faster than that of payment card purchases, and the use of instant credit transfers also continued to expand. Instant payment turnover expanded by 15% in terms of the number of transactions and by 31% in value to HUF 44,000 billion. In 2022, instant payments already accounted for 42% of all domestic credit transfer transactions, with almost 80% of retail customers having access to a request-to-pay service and over 60% having access to QR code payments.

According to MNB, payment card purchases exceeded the total value of cash withdrawals in 2022 due to the spread of electronic payment transactions.

As in many European countries, bank transfers have been adopted for online payments, enabling consumers to pay direct from their bank account as an alternative service to payment cards.

Payment Initiation Service Providers (PISPs) offering cross-border online credit transfers in the country include Klarna’s SOFORT (D).

In November 2017, WorldRemit implemented an instant money transfer service to Hungary to allow migrants to send money in a few taps directly from their phones. The new service lets migrants in over 50 countries send remittances directly to bank accounts in Hungary using the WorldRemit app or website.

In 2023, the MNB registered 14 payment service providers that provide account information services.

Authorised in another EEA member state, 253 cross-border PISPs have provided notification of operating in Hungary under the EU passport system.

Advanced Payment Services

In the Yearbooks, advanced payment services are classified as online wallets, e-wallets, and/or mobile wallets with any type of payment service chosen by the wallet user to complete the payment.

In selected Hungarian online shops, the wallets PayPal, Skrill and Alipay are offered as payment means.

PayPal – PayPal is present in Hungary. As of end-2024, PayPal reported 434 million active customer accounts globally, up 2.1% from 426 million in 2023. This consisted of 398 million customer active accounts and 36 million merchant active accounts across approximately 200 markets. PayPal’s total payment volume increased to $1.68 trillion (up from $1.53 in 2023) and customer engagement grew to an average of 60.6 transactions per active account, driving 3% growth in transactions per active account at the end of 2024.

During 2020, with consumers worldwide embracing digital wallet capabilities, the company launched several related services including QR Code Checkout, Buy Now Pay Later, Crypto purchasing and Xoom direct transfers to bank accounts and debit cards.

In June 2018, PayPal continued its shopping spree with a $400 million cash deal to acquire e-commerce platform Hyperwallet. The acquisition followed deals to buy Venmo, Xoom, Sweden’s iZettle (renamed Zettle) for $2.2 billion and AI-based merchant marketing outfit Jetlore, as Paypal bids to extend its reach to all corners of the payments market.

In May 2022, PayPal Ventures invested in Modulr, an embedded payments platform for digital businesses, as part of a $108 million Series C funding round led by General Atlantic, Blenheim Chalcot, Frog Capital, and Highland Europe. Modulr delivers payments infrastructure for over 200 top-tier customers, including Revolut, Wagestream, Sage and BrightPay, and processes an annualised transaction value of more than £100 billion.

In 2023, PayPal was exploring the sale of Xoom, its international money transfer subsidiary, in a bid to cut costs and focus on high-growth business areas – as of November 2025, PayPal had not completed the sale. Also, Stax Payments – an all-in-one payment provider for businesses – announced its partnership with PayPal in July 2023. This partnership will allow PayPal’s users to easily make payments with more than 20,000 merchants of Stax through a fast checkout process as well as new payment options such as Buy-now-pay-later solutions.

In 2023, PayPal launched its own US dollar-denominated stablecoin, PayPal USD (PYUSD), which is fully backed by US dollar deposits, short-term US treasuries, and similar cash equivalents and designed for digital payments and Web3. Eligible US PayPal customers who purchase PayPal USD will be able to transfer the token to external wallets, send person-to-person payments, fund purchases at checkouts supported by PayPal, and convert cryptocurrency holdings to and from PayPal USD.

In January 2024, PayPal launched AI-powered features to drive personalised offerings for both merchants and customers based on the data it possesses. These features include Smart Receipts (for merchants) which predicts what shoppers may want to buy next from the merchant. The merchant can then offer personalised recommendations, and cashback offers on this receipt. A major feature for users is CashPass which will use give users personalized cashback offers based on an AI analysis of their spending activity.

In March 2024, PayPal launched a complete suite of payment processing tools for online small businesses in the UK, Canada, and across more than 20 European markets. The PayPal Complete Payments package enables small businesses to accept an expanded range of payment instruments including PayPal, buy now pay later, Apple Pay, Google Pay, credit and debit cards, and alternative payment methods from around the world. By April 2024, PayPal added new features to its complete payments solution for small businesses to enable small businesses to accept a range of payments including PayPal, Venmo and PayPal Pay Later products. PayPal also gave small businesses access to four new features to help them drive payment acceptance and enhance how they run their business, and this will include Apple Pay as a checkout option.

In 2025, PayPal significantly enhanced its offerings for small businesses by introducing PayPal Open, a unified commerce platform that consolidates all of PayPal’s merchant solutions into a single interface. This platform provides small businesses with access to a comprehensive suite of tools, including payment processing, financial services, and AI-driven insights, all designed to streamline operations and foster growth.

Amazon Pay – was introduced in 2007. The payment service enables Amazon customers to checkout at participating third-party merchant sites using their Amazon credentials.​

Launch Date: Amazon Pay first launched in August 2007 as “Pay with Amazon,” later expanding globally and adding features for third-party merchant acceptance.​

Functionality: All active Amazon customers can use their Amazon credentials for checkout at partnered merchants—Amazon Pay is available in 18 countries as of October 2024.​

Global Usage: Over 50 million customers have used Amazon Pay for purchases worldwide, with a large share coming from Amazon Prime members, but recent statistics indicate over 3.2 billion transactions processed in 2025 and 600,000+ merchants accepting Amazon Pay as of June 2025.​

Prime Share: More than half of Amazon Pay users are Amazon Prime Members, matching your note on demographics.​

Market Impact: By the end of 2025, Amazon Pay accounts for approximately 6% of the global online payment market, processing an estimated $85 billion in payments.​

Expansion: Amazon Pay experienced 20% growth in mobile usage and 13% total transaction growth from 2024 to 2025.​

Merchant Share: SMEs comprise around 70% of all merchants using Amazon Pay.

Alipay – In October 2018, UniCredit Bank Hungary and Alipay signed an agreement making China’s mobile payment service available to Chinese visitors coming to Hungary from 2019. Alipay’s first POS acceptance terminal in Hungary was launched on 1 April, 2019.

Digital Payment Services

In the Yearbooks, digital payment services are classified as card-based payment services using EMV tokenisation security on the internet combined with HCE NFC technology in the case of contactless payments at POS terminals.

From mid-2014, the digital wallets MasterPass is supported by Hungarian banks. In February 2016, the second largest mobile network operator in Hungary, Telenor, added MasterPass to its Telenor Wallet app.

As of mid-2025, the Click to Pay online payment checkout service was available, replacing the previous MasterPass and VISA Checkout services respectively. Click to Pay is a joint service between Mastercard, Visa, Discover and American Express, enabling consumers to make secure one-click payments without having to enter card details or passwords online.

Contactless payments on cards using Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, or Google Pay (previously Android Pay) made by foreign users at contactless POS terminals in Hungary are processed as payments on contactless cards.

Global contactless transaction values are projected to reach approximately $15.7 trillion by 2027, up significantly from around $4.6 trillion in 2022, driven by widespread adoption of contactless mobile and card payments. Contactless mobile and wearable payments are expected to grow by over 220%, while contactless card payments will increase by approximately 119% in the same period.

Contactless ticketing spend is forecasted to surge by more than 400% globally between 2022 and 2027, with mobile NFC ticketing powered by OEM wallet solutions such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay playing a critical role in enabling seamless transit and event ticketing across multiple markets.

By 2027, 99% of all smartphones are estimated to support contactless payments, up from 94% in 2022, with average contactless transaction values roughly $28.20 for Apple Pay and $33.40 for Google Pay. Digital wallets—including PayPal, Apple Pay, and Alipay—represent the majority of global mobile payments. Mobile wallets accounted for around half of global e-commerce payment transactions as of 2022 with approximately 2.8 billion users worldwide, nearly half concentrated in Asia-Pacific, led by large markets such as China, India, and Southeast Asia.

In North America and Europe, mobile payments increasingly overlap with broader “alternative payments” encompassing all non-cash, non-card payment methods, reflecting shifting consumer preferences towards convenience and digital-first financial experiences.

Overall, the global contactless payment market is witnessing rapid growth driven by technology advances, expanding wallet usage, and evolving consumer behaviours, signalling a transformative shift towards universal cashless and contactless commerce by the end of the decade.

Apple Pay has become one of the world’s most used digital payment methods. Its user base increased from 521.4 million to 535.8 million in 2022 and now sits at 785 million users worldwide at end 2024.

This payment method is also available in over 85% of US merchants and 60% of stores globally.

As of August 2024, the estimated total Apple Pay in-store sales now sit at $268 billion, up from $213 billion last year.

As of 2023, Apple Pay processed 14.2% of all online consumer payments and 5.6% of all in-store purchases globally, global transaction volume (2025 estimate) is $7.6 trillion.

In the US its Apple Pay users are measured as ~63.9 million (2025 forecast), with in-store U.S. retail sales via Apple Pay sitting at ~$268 billion (as of August 2024).

Putting it all together, Apple Pay is increasingly becoming an effective customer acquisition and retention feature for Apple. In June 2022, Apple Pay added Apple Pay Later, its buy-now-pay-later service, allowing users to split purchases into four equal instalments with no interest or fees. Initially launched in the US, the service is expected to roll out to other countries during 2023. In 2023, Apple launched its Card savings account from Goldman Sachs with a 4.15% annual percentage yield. Apple Wallet users can set up and manage a savings account directly from Apple Card in Wallet, with no fees, no minimum deposits, and no minimum balance requirements.

Apple Pay was available from 45 banks and payment providers in Hungary as of October-2025.

Google Pay current data shows around 820 million active users across 45 global markets.

In January 2022, it was reported that the company was planning to transform Google Pay into a “comprehensive digital wallet”, following the app’s reported slow growth and the shutdown of Plex. In April, it was reported that Google was planning to revive the “Google Wallet” branding in a new app or interface and integrated with Google Pay. Google officially announced Google Wallet on May 11, 2022, at the 2022 Google I/O keynote. The app began rolling out on Android smartphones on July 18, replacing the 2018 app and co-existing with the 2020 Google Pay app in the US. While the app name itself was changed from Google Pay to Google Wallet, the service name of actually paying for things online or in-store remains “Google Pay.”.

In the US, Google Pay has over 165 million users.  Also, Google Pay is used on nearly 800,000 websites as a secure payment gateway. Roughly 20% of all mobile purchases are made using this digital payment processor. Google Pay ranks 3rd among mobile payment methods globally. In Russia, it has an online usage distribution of 35.18% and has recorded approximately 1,281,838 transactions online. Available in 19 countries, 30% of Google Pay’s active users are millennials. It is one of Canada’s top 5 online payment apps and is the primary mobile payment method for 2,193 businesses worldwide. In India, Google Pay boasts 67 million active users and holds 36.10% of the mobile application market. Its widespread adoption and significant market share highlight its growing importance in the global digital payment landscape.

Google Pay is available in Hungary from 38 banks and payment providers as of October 2025.

Samsung Pay is available in 29 countries worldwide and has an estimated 150 million users. Samsung Pay works with a broad range of Samsung Galaxy phones, including the latest Galaxy S22 and newer models, as well as many previous models like the Galaxy S8.

Samsung claims that its system will work with almost all point-of-sale systems: NFC, magnetic stripe and EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa) terminals for chip-based cards. In June 2022, Samsung Pay was renamed to Samsung Wallet in the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. Along with the renaming came new features such as the ability to store digital assets and digital keys within the Wallet app.

As of October-2025, Samsung Pay was not available in Hungary.

Overview of Cashless Payments

(See Chart – Overview of Cashless Payments 2024)

In 2024, card payments accounted for 73.41% of all cashless payments compared to 62.34% across the EU. The compound annual growth rate in card payments was 14.66% between 2020 and 2024.

Credit transfers (17.74%) are the most widely used payment instrument in Hungary, whilst direct debit usage (2.76%) is low.

Cheques use, which was introduced at the same time as payment cards, have never taken off and is very low in Hungary. Banks no longer issue cheque books.

Other payments – Domestic postal orders, cash transfer orders, and cash delivery orders are offered by Magyar Posta. Postal orders are used for recurring payments by consumers and small businesses. However, they are increasingly being replaced by direct debits.

In 2024, there was a high level of 281.1 cash-less payments per capita, an increase of 9.50% from 2023. They were composed of 206.3 card payments per capita, 49.9 credit transfers per capita, and 7.8 direct debits per capita.

3 - Cashless Payment Transactions in Hungary
(millions)202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Payment cards 1,065.79 1,285.35 1,583.73 1,788.74 1,972.93 2,176.09 10.30%98.21%14.66%
Cheques issued–––––-–––
Credit transfers382.31414.06438.13448.11476.74 507.20 6.39%31.48%5.63%
Direct debits73.9275.7675.1574.2374.26 74.30 0.05%-7.00%-1.44%
Total 1,564.38 1,822.06 2,138.09 2,461.69 2,687.57 2,934.17 9.18%82.04%12.73%
Total card payments per capita109.3132.4163.5186.5206.3224.710.62%102.55%15.16%
Total cheques issued per capita–––––––––
Total credit transfers per capita39.242.645.246.749.952.46.70%34.36%6.08%
Total direct debits per capita7.67.87.87.77.87.70.34%-4.97%-1.01%
Total cashless payments per capita160.4187.6220.8256.7281.1303.09.50%86.02%13.22%
Note: totals include “other payment instruments” i.e. bills of exchange.
Source: ECB, MNB.

Exchange Rates

The national currency is the Hungarian forint (HUF). After 10 years as a member of the European Union, Hungary shows no hurry to adopt the euro as is enjoying the “advantages” of being outside the euro system.

4 - Average Exchange Rates
20202021202220232024
1 EUR in HUF351.25358.52391.29381.85395.30
Source: ECB

Market Infrastructure

The VIBER domestic payment system is operated by the MNB and is designed for the settlement of high-value and urgent payments which are final and irrevocable after their automatic real-time settlement. VIBER participants include credit institutions, the MNB, the Hungarian State Treasury and the Hungarian Post.

In 2024, the value of transactions in the VIBER system fell by nearly 28% while the number increased by 1.9% compared to 2023. In 2024, turnover was lower than that of 2023, with a value of HUF 2.56 trillion. Meanwhile, the number of transactions in VIBER increased to 2.28 million.

The Interbank Clearing System (ICS) is operated by GIRO and carries out the processing of high-volume transactions (credit transfer, direct debit, etc.) with low individual values between credit institutions. The three platforms of the ICS are the overnight settlement, intraday settlement, and instant settlement, which have been operational since 2 March 2020.

The number of transactions on the three platforms of ICS increased by 4.5% in 2024 exceeding 401 million. In terms of value, with an increase of 5.8% the total turnover exceeded HUF 239 billion. In terms of value, a major portion (82%) of ICS turnover was executed in intraday clearing, 15% in instant clearing, and 3% in overnight clearing.

e-Procurement System EPPS – Hungary has introduced electronic communication in public procurement procedures to comply with Directive 2014/14/EU. From April 2018, contracting authorities falling under the Public Procurement Act (“PPA”) must conclude their procurements through an electronic public procurement system (Elektronikus Közbeszerzési Rendszer, “EPPS”).

Every procedure launched after this deadline must be carried out using the EPPS, which is operated and maintained by the state-owned company, NEKSZT Kft – on behalf of the Prime Minister’s Office.

The EPPS serves as a communication platform between contracting authorities and tenderers. With minor exceptions, all communications – from the publication of the tender notice, through the submission of bids, and up to the award of the contract (i.e. the core public procurement procedure) – must be conducted through the EPPS.

Regulation and Financial Transaction Levy

In September 2009, the Hungarian Competition Council (GVH) imposed fines totalling $10.4 million on VISA, Mastercard, and seven of the biggest banks in Hungary for allegedly running an interchange fee cartel. GVH concluded that the introduction of a uniform interchange fee structure by VISA, Mastercard, and the commercial banks in 1996 inhibited competition.

VISA and Mastercard were fined HUF 477 million each – around $2.6 million. OTP Bank, Budapest Bank, MKB Bank, CIB Bank, Erste Bank, K&H Bank, and ING Bank were fined a total of HUF 954 million.

In December 2010, Hungary’s parliament approved a provision to the Act on Payment Services which imposed caps on the card industry’s fees.

The interchange fee payable to the issuer by the accepting payment service provider must not exceed 0.3% of the amount paid in the case of individuals using a debit card; 0.75% in the case of individuals using a credit card; 0.8% in all other cases; and 0.3%, up to a maximum HUF 100 per transaction, if payment is made with a debit card whenever means of payment used as a cash substitute are applied. The provisions became law on 1 March 2010.

Government also undertook to inform Parliament by 30 November every year about trends observable in the market of the means of payment used as a cash substitute, and to make a recommendation as to the appropriate level of interchange fees.

Despite consultations with the Hungarian Banking Association, the proposal on the interchange fee was tabled at the last moment and is held by bankers to be in conflict with the Hungarian constitution, the fundamental principles of the EU, the accepted rules of Mastercard and VISA by the EC and dysfunctional in practice. In January 2010, VISA Europe said it would appeal to Hungary’s constitutional court against the new regulations.

In 2012 at the ministry’s request, the MNB elaborated and submitted to the Ministry of National Economy a regulation proposal to increase safety of the voucher market, to restrict usage of cash among the economic agents, and to reduce the level of interchange fees charged on bank card payments.

Another MNB initiative in the effort to reduce cash usage is that, with the introduction of the transaction tax, cash withdrawals will be subject to higher charges than non-cash transactions.

Financial Transaction Levy – Since the January 2013 introduction of the financial transaction levy (FTL), the pricing of payment services has changed significantly. As of 1 August 2013, the FTL on electronic transactions was raised from 0.2% to 0.3%, and the tax on cash withdrawals from 0.3% to 0.6%, with the HUF 6,000 per transaction cap also removed in the latter category. Most banks pass on the tax applicable to card purchases by raising their fixed annual card fees, with only a few examples of fees proportional to transaction value. However, once the rate was increased, a complete pass-through became standard practice at all banks.

The banking community advocated for the reduction of the Financial Transaction Levy on bank card payments on a continuous basis in 2014 since it adversely affects the broad and intensive use of this advanced payment method.

In January 2015, the amended regulation entered into force according to which, instead of the amounts concerned, the levy should be based on the total payments made with the same bank card in the particular year, as a result of which the levy is likely to decrease. Pursuant to the new regulation, the FTL on bank card transactions of the cards in circulation is an annual lump sum of HUF 800, or HUF 500 for contactless cards.

As of January 2017, the special tax on banks was levied on banks’ balance sheet total of two years preceding the tax year instead of their end-2009 balance sheet total. The tax rate was set at 0.15% for up to HUF 50 billion of the tax base, and at 0.21% on the amount above — down from 0.24% in 2016.

In mid-2018, it was revealed that Hungarian financial institutions’ revenues from providing payment services neared HUF 503 billion in the year before, up 6% on the previous year, according to the National Bank of Hungary (MNB).

As of 2020, the base rate of the bank levy was set at 0.19%. Credit institutions pay the levy on adjusted total assets.

In April 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hungarian government announced the introduction of a temporary tax on the banking sector that will be deducted in full from the bank levy over the coming five years. The tax was expected to raise around HUF 55 billion in revenue and would be treated as a one-off pre-payment of taxes. The rate of the one-off tax was set at 0.19% on a tax base over HUF 50 billion, payable in three quarterly instalments on June 10, September 10, and December 10, 2020.

In June 2022 the Hungarian government issued a decree introducing special taxes affecting several sectors, among others banking, insurance, energy, telecommunications and airlines. According to the decree, the government will impose special taxes as of 1 July 2022 to overcome the financial difficulties triggered by the Ukrainian crisis. The aim of the new taxes therefore is to improve the state’s income and the stability of the national economy. A special tax is payable by banks on their net turnover. The rate of the tax in 2022 is 10% and in 2023 became 8%. As of 2024, the special “extra‑profit” tax on banks is no longer based on net turnover, but on adjusted pre‑tax profit for the year 2022. The tax rate is now 13 % for the portion of the tax base up to HUF 20 billion, and 30 % on any amount above that. For 2025, a new rate schedule applies: 7 % on the part of the base up to HUF 20 billion and 18 % above, per Government Decree 356/2024.

SZÉP Recreation Cards – a domestic fringe benefit card system

The SZÉP card is part of a unified voucher scheme introduced by the Hungarian government. Launched in 2012, the SZÉP Card is a new element of the reformed domestic fringe benefit services system. It includes three subaccounts where employers can transfer as fringe benefits up to HUF 800,000 for each employee, which amount can be entirely utilised for domestic accommodation.

The number of employers who opted for SZÉP cards has been rising steadily and now, more than 20,000 employers have joined this form of fringe benefit service system (“cafeteria”). From April 2012, every POS terminal of participating banks has been compatible with SZÉP cards. Since the SZÉP card was introduced, Hungarians have used it to buy HUF 160 billion of goods and services at commercial accommodation and catering establishments. By 2023, total spending reached a record: HUF 449.4 billion, a 17% increase over the previous year.

The card is free of charge for both the employer and the employee and so is joining the system for service providers. The maximum rate of commission payable for using the card is 1.5%. Therefore, the SZÉP Card is the lowest cost electronic payment system in Hungary which can replace cash transfers.

The popularity of the SZÉP Card has proven to be greater than anticipated. The card is easy to use via an on-line platform or by a call centre assistant, and POS terminals of participating banks are also accessible.

The most popular subaccounts of the fringe benefit system are those for hot meals and accommodation. Employers have transferred HUF 4.8 billion altogether to the hot meal subaccount with an annual limit of HUF 265,000 each, whereas HUF 4.4 billion have been received by the accommodation subaccount with an annual limit of HUF 400,000 each. The annual limit at a recreational subaccount is HUF 135,000, where employers have so far transferred HUF 1.4 billion.

The popularity of SZÉP Cards speaks for itself. It rapidly became one of the most frequently selected extra-wage benefits. It allows for advanced, versatile, and comfortable utilisation for SZÉP Card holders at more than 20,000 acceptance sites in Hungary. In 2015, it was reported that internal tourism had resulted in a spend of HUF 14 billion on SZEP cards across the country.

Over 2021 many changes were made in the rules concerning SZÉP cards, which were primarily aimed at offsetting the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourism and the catering industry, thus significantly affecting the changes in the related turnover. In the period between 22 April 2020 and 31 December 2021, the tax burden on SZÉP cards declined from 32.5% to 15%. The employer benefits annual limit was expanded to HUF 800,000, up to which amount employers were exempted from paying the social contribution tax in 2021. The use of the SZÉP Card was facilitated by a new measure enabling any SZÉP Card service to be paid for using any of the SZÉP Card sub-accounts from 25 April 2021 (until 31 December 2022).

The number of cards issued increased by 5% between January 2020 and December 2021 and exceeded 2.2 million. Also, the appropriation utilised rose significantly, reflected in the 24% annual average growth in the monthly balances held on the cards compared to 2020. In addition, compared to 2020, SZÉP cardholders carried out 49% more transactions a month on annual average.

In addition, pursuant to the provisions of the Government Decree announced on 24 December 2021, between 1 February 2022 and 31 May 2022 it was possible to pay for food by SZÉP card in shops as well, which was expected to further raise the related transaction turnover.

The usage of MKB’s SZÉP Card in 2021 was fundamentally influenced by government measures taken to curb the COVID-19 pandemic. Since October 2021, MKB SZÉP Card accounts can also be opened in the branches of Budapest Bank and Takarékbank. Since April 2021, the relaunched MKB SZÉP Card App also helped uptake among MKB SZÉP Card owners.

The MKB SZÉP recorded HUF 30 billion received in employer’s contributions through 1.2 million transactions by 237,000 MKB SZÉP Card owners in 2021. SZÉP Card owners spent approximately HUF 33.2 billion through 6.4 million transactions in 2021. Assets held in MKB SZÉP Card accounts exceeded HUF 16.6 billion on an annual average. Cardholders could use their cards for payment at 34,000 card acceptance locations.

The preferential tax on SZÉP Cards, the interchangeability across their sub-accounts, and the possibility of using them in retail outlets significantly increased the number of payments by SZÉP Cards in H1 2022. Presumably, the underlying reasons are that the base values are low due to the pandemic, and between 1 February 2022 and 31 May 2022, it was allowed to use SZÉP Cards to buy food in shops, which resulted in a major increase in turnover.

GIRO Zrt. and AZUR Instant Payments

GIRO Zrt., the automated clearing house operator in Hungary, supports interbank clearing and settlement of credit transfers and direct debits. While GIRO Zrt. processes bulk payments, the RTGS operated by the MNB focuses on large value payment settlement.

Until April 2014, GIRO Zrt. was owned by the central bank and 21 commercial banks: five large shareholders owned 76.52% of the shares, while the MNB held 8.09% cent of the stock. In 2014, the MNB acquired GIRO Zrt. from the former majority owning commercial banks. From July 2014, MNB is the single owner of GIRO. The acquisition of the central bank was motivated by three goals:

AZUR – In December 2016, a proposal from MNB for the launch of an instant payments service in Hungary was approved by the country’s Financial Stability Board. In January 2018, MNB selected the Nordic payments processor NETS Group (DK) to provide an instant payments system to GIRO Zrt.

The development and implementation of the central infrastructure for instant payments, AZUR, is an historic step not only for GIRO Zrt, but for the entire Hungarian financial system, because it will bring changes and significant advantages to all participants in the national payment ecosystem.

The new payment system operates 24/7/365 and settles all single credit transfers up to the value of HUF 10 million within five seconds. It will also enable consumers to initiate instant credit transfers using just a mobile telephone number – so that the payer does not need to know the payee’s bank account details to transfer funds.

The ‘Request to Pay’ service is often referred to as an alternative payment method to the so called ‘yellow cheque’, a common method of paying utility bills in Hungary, because the execution of the payment by the bank is always subject to the payer’s authorisation.

In June 2019, GIRO and Nets announced that they have delivered Nets’ instant payments platform – RealTime24/7 – in Hungary. From July 2019, GIRO operates the AZUR platform in production, allowing the banking community to test and gain experience with instant payments. This marks the fourth implementation of NETS’ instant payment platform that, in addition to Hungary, runs in Denmark, Italy and Slovenia. (see Denmark, Italy and Slovenia profile).

In March 2020, instant payment functionality was officially launched in GIRO. To support expansion of electronic payments, GIRO updated its clearing fee strategy by moving to a new system load-based pricing model from the former transaction-based approach. This means that members are not charged transaction clearing fees from January 2019.

As part of the clearing system, with the introduction of the GIROFix service, GIRO provides an alternative submission channel as well to ICS participants and also to other market players, which allows the submitting of batched requests to pay that are not time critical. The option of addressing with a secondary identifier is also available for every customer within the framework of the GIROFix service.

Card Issuers – Overview

Hungarian banks issue credit cards, charge cards, debit cards and prepaid cards in combination with bank accounts. Addressing the specific needs of personal banking and business banking, the card portfolio is composed of consumer cards, business cards and corporate cards.

Dedicated card products are offered for the individual client segments: families, millennials, students, affluent clients, small business clients, corporate clients and even basic account clients. The credit cards offered range from classic cards to gold cards and platinum cards.

All Hungarian retail banks issue contactless cards. According to MNB, there are more than 26 issuers, 24 banks issue debit cards and 15 banks issue credit cards.

Hungarian banks issue debit cards (Debit Mastercard, VISA Debit) and credit cards (Mastercard, VISA).

Leading issuers are OTP, K&H Bank, UniCredit Bank, Raiffeisen, MKB Bank and Erste Bank. Other notable issuers are CIB Bank, Budapest Bank, MKB Bank, and MTB. OTP had issued American Express cards, but it has discontinued this practice in 2019. American Express Payments Europe now issues American Express cards on its own. Table 5 illustrates the card brands accepted by the leading Hungarian card issuers as at mid-2025.

5 - Leading Card Issuers in Hungary
Domestic Issuers Issued Card Brands Owned by
OTP Bank Mastercard, VISA; Debit Mastercardforeign investors: 56.31%, Domestic investor: 43.54, others: 0.15%
Kereskedelmi es Hitel Bank (K&H) Mastercard, VISA; VISA Debit, Debit Mastercard KBC Bank Group (B)
UniCredit Bank Mastercard, VISA, Debit Mastercard, VISA Debit UniCredit Group (I)
Raiffeisen Bank Hungary (RBH) Mastercard, VISA, Debit Mastercard Raiffeisen Bank International (A)
MKB Bank Mastercard, Debit MastercardInvestors: 88.98%, Free float 11.02%
Erste Bank Hungary (EBH) Mastercard, VISA; VISA Debit, Debit Mastercard Erste Group (A)
CIB Bank Mastercard, VISA, Debit Mastercard, VISA Debit Intesa Sanpaolo Group (I)
Budapest Bank Mastercard, VISA, Debit Mastercard, Debit Mastercard state-owned
Sberbank Hungary Mastercard; Debit Mastercard Sberbank Group (RUS)
Magyar Takarék Bank (MTB) Mastercard, VISA; VISA Debit Savings Banks (H)
other banks Mastercard, VISA; VISA Debit, Debit Mastercard various
American Express American Express American Express (US)
Erste Card Club Diners Erste Bank Group (A)
Consumer Finance Issuers Issued Card Brands owned by
Magyar Cetelem Bank Mastercard; Aura BNP Paribas Group (F)
Note: cards branded Mastercard or VISA are issued as credit cards and also as debit cards.
Source: PCM research

Outlook – By mid-2025, Hungarian card issuers face the following notable challenges:

Card Processors and PSPs 

In Europe, the payment processing industry is composed of card processors, ATM/POS network hub processors, e-/m-payment service processors (PSPs), and specialised processors (e.g. CSM processors, TSM services).

In Hungary, card issuer processing services range from technical issuer processing, including card printing, to full cardholder processing services. They include all types of cards and card technologies allowing for card use in multi-channels (i.e. at ATMs, POS terminals, on the internet and in-store mobile payments in the future).

Acquirer processing services in the country range from technical acquirer processing, including POS terminal services, to full merchant processing services. Usually, ATM/POS network processing is part of acquirer processing while payments on the internet are routed by specialised e-/m-payment service processors (PSPs) to the card acquirers and independent payment service providers (e.g. FinTechs like PayPal), respectively.

Card transactions are cleared through three systems – SIA Central Europe (formerly GBC, the Giro Bankcard Company), the only locally-based authorisation and switching company, and Mastercard and VISA, which provide domestic clearing services in Hungary.

Leading card processors in Hungary are in-house bank IT systems, SIA Central Europe (now Nexi), and Euronet. Other processors active in Hungary include First Data (SK) and Global Payments (CZ). OTP, Budapest Bank and Erste Bank Hungary manage card processing, switching and authorisation in-house.

SIA Central Europe – In late 2006, Hungarian processor GBC was acquired by the Italian processor SSB, now part of SIA (see Appendix). The hub of the SIA Group in central and eastern Europe, is a competence centre for ATM/POS terminal management and transactions switching. The activities of SIA Central Europe focus on full processing (issuing and acquiring) of card transactions (debit/credit, prepaid, loyalty, gift and fuel cards), terminal management and value-added services, compliance and reporting for surveillance of operations on financial markets for major banking groups and network services for connectivity and messaging via the SIAnet broadband infrastructure. SIA Central Europe is a major processor in Hungary.

In September 2016, Budapest Bank selected SIA CEE as its card processor. The agreement covered the migration of the full debit and credit cards portfolio of Budapest Bank to SIA’s card processing platform.

SIA Group is present in around 50 countries and also operates through its subsidiaries in Austria, Croatia, Czechia, Hungary, Greece, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Hungary and South Africa. In addition, SIA has branches in Belgium and the Netherlands, and representative offices in the UK and Poland (see Italy country profile).

In October 2020, Italian processor Nexi announced its intention to acquire SIA in a deal worth an estimated €5.3 billion. The closing of the deal was planned for September 2021 following receipt of regulatory approvals. The new group will be the largest group in Europe for number of merchants served (2 million), number of cards (120 million), and number of transactions executed each year (21 billion).

First Data (SK) became SIA Slovakia – ACS, the former Authorisation Centre of Slovakia, was established after the break-up of Czechoslovakia in June 1994 when the Slovak banks purchased ‘enterprise INESCO’, the Slovak part of MUZO (see Slovakia profile). ACS was later renamed Transacty and was 68%-owned by Norwegian telecoms company Telenor until January 2004, when the controlling stake was sold to Oslo-based EuroProcessing International (EPI), with local banks holding the balance. In July 2005, EPI was acquired by First Data (US) and Transacty became known as First Data Slovakia.

In May 2018, Italian processor SIA and First Data (US) signed an agreement for SIA to acquire First Data’s card processing businesses in parts of Central and South-eastern Europe for €387 million. In July 2019, Fiserv completed the purchase of First Data for $22 billion in an all-stock transaction.

Euronet Worldwide – Founded in 1994, Budapest-based Euronet Worldwide is the other major card processor in the country. Euronet is a global provider of payment processing solutions for financial institutions, retailers, service providers, and individual consumers. Euronet owns and operates processing centres in Hungary, Pakistan, India, and China. Its primary business segments are:

Euronet’s extensive global payment network includes 55,248 ATMs, approximately 1,160,000 EFT POS terminals, and a growing portfolio of outsourced debit and credit card services managed in 67 worldwide offices. In addition, Euronet serves clients in approximately 200 countries.

Euronet Key Figures – Euronet partners with more than 270 banks and card organisations and operates the largest independent shared ATM network in India, Malaysia, and in 19 European countries.

In 2024, Euronet processed more than 12.4 billion transactions with a total revenue of $3.7 billion and operated a global network in 67 offices worldwide accounting for 55,248 ATMs (2014: 20,364) and 1,160,000 POS terminals (2014: 113,000). Also, Euronet provides payment- software solutions (EFT) to customers in 200 countries. Euronet manages a processing network of approximately 777,000 POS terminals at more than 362,000 retailer locations, as well as a global money transfer network of approximately 607,000 locations.

Euronet Business Expansion in Europe – In February 2007, Euronet signed a long-term agreement, sponsored by acquirer Erste Bank, to handle cross-border transactions from 13 countries, including Hungary, for OMV Refining & Marketing, part of Austria’s largest listed industrial company, the oil and gas giant OMV (see Austria profile).

In December 2011, Euronet acquired the independent Romanian processor PayNet which provided integrated ATM outsourcing services, card issuing and acquiring, and POS merchant servicing solutions to financial institutions in Romania (see Romania profile). PayNet managed 720 ATMs, 1,700 POS terminals and 540,000 cards at-end 2011 and processed about 15 million transactions annually (see Romania profile).

Shared Euronet ATM Network – In May 2012, Euronet announced deployment of the first Independent and Shared Automated Deposit Terminal (ADT) networks in Europe. Euronet has signed network participation agreements with several banks, including Alior Bank, Bank Handlowy w Warszawie (Citi Group) and Bank Pocztowy (Post Bank) in Poland as well as with Citibank Europe in Romania, among others. These agreements allow customers to deposit cash into any Euronet branded deposit terminal in their respective countries.

In April 2014, Euronet Services, the Romanian subsidiary of Euronet, announced the acquisition of 200 ATMs from Banca Comercială Carpatica (BCC), doubling its ATM estate in Romania to 400 devices. The acquired in-branch ATMs were co-branded with Euronet, while the off-branch BCC ATMs were rebranded to Euronet. Also, BCC signed an agreement to participate in Euronet’s shared ATM network and a contract for POS acquiring and card issuing services.

In 2014, Euronet also concluded an ATM outsourcing agreement with Credit Agricole Bank in Poland. In 2015, Euronet signed a new ATM network participation agreement with UniCredit Bank in Romania.

In October 2016, Euronet acquired UK-based ATM network YourCash and added 5,000 ATMs across the UK, Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland.

In 2024, Euronet claimed to operate the largest pan-European Independent ATM Network (IAD), with independent networks in 19 countries:  Poland, Hungary, Czechia, Ukraine, Romania, Greece, Croatia, Spain, Italy, Hungary, Austria, Denmark, Cyprus, France, Portugal, Netherlands, Malaysia, Ireland, and the UK.

Online Payment Service Processors (PSPs) 

Online payment service processors (PSPs) are specialised technical processors for all kind of secure online payments and mobile payments. Some of them also offer virtual PSP platform services (VPSP) for bank acquirers who want to take advantage of a kind of ‘internet network processor’.

Online shops of merchants are directly connected by an API interface or a hosted payment page either to the internet payment gateway of a bank acquirer, or they are connected to multi-acquirers through a PSP.

PSPs usually partner with more than one card acquirer and payment initiation service providers. Core services offered by PSPs may include payment gateways to card acquirers and other online payment service providers, online payment processing, risk management services, and collection services for merchants.

Security technologies applied to ensure secure online card payments include EMV tokenisation and strong 3D-Secure (MCSC, VbV, SafeKey) combined with one-time tokens. For card-less payment services, the security technologies applied include userID/password combined with one-time tokens and online banking access with one-time TAN.

The payment service providers that are resident in Hungary include the Hungarian acquirer banks, PayU, SIA Central Europe (Nexi), Euronet Worldwide, Erste/Global Payments, and B-Payment, the local representative of Icelandic acquirer Borgun.

Hungarian acquirer banks: OTP Bank, K&H, Erste Bank, UniCredit Bank, MBH Bank (formerly MKB + Budapest Bank + part of Takarék).
All remain key acquirers for domestic POS + e-commerce.

Erste / Global Payments: Still a major acquirer, operating under Global Payments Europe infrastructure.

Euronet Worldwide: Active in ATM services and e-commerce acquiring; continues to serve merchants in Hungary.

B-Payment (Borgun representative): Still present, though the Borgun brand has been absorbed into Borgun/Arion/Valitor consolidation dynamics. B-Payment continues to operate as a regional acquiring and gateway provider.

PayU: PayU’s footprint in CEE has changed. PayU phased out parts of its local direct acquiring in several markets after corporate restructuring (post-Prosus PayU Global Payments sale in 2022–2023). In Hungary, PayU remains present but operates mainly as an online PSP with a lighter local focus than before.

SIA Central Europe acquired by Nexi: SIA’s integration into Nexi Group is complete. Nexi is now one of the largest card-issuing processors and POS/payment infrastructure providers in Hungary after acquiring SIA and merging with Nets/Concardis.
Nexi supports Hungarian banking infrastructure but does not operate as a direct merchant acquirer in the way it does in Italy or DACH.

Barion (Hungarian PSP): Now one of the fastest-growing online PSPs in Hungary, with strong usage among e-commerce merchants for card payments and Barion Wallet.
Barion was not in your original list and should be included in a 2025 update.

SimplePay (OTP) – renewed brand: OTP’s SimplePay remains one of the dominant online acceptance gateways. Widely used in Hungarian e-commerce and compatible with OTP acquiring.

Billingo Pay: Emerging small PSPs and billing platforms are integrating card acceptance via partner acquirers, but do not operate full acquiring stacks.

Foreign PSPs serving Hungarian online merchants

Adyen (NL) – significant growth in CEE, many mid-size and enterprise merchants in Hungary use Adyen through cross-border acquiring.

Worldpay (UK/US) – continues to service Hungary cross-border despite multiple ownership changes (FIS → private equity spin-off).

Paysafe Group

Additional active foreign PSPs in 2025

These players are now commonly seen among mid-size and large merchants:

Acquiring and Acceptance

In Europe, most acquirers offer multi-channel card acceptance and value-added merchant services at POS terminals, mobile MPOS terminals and online shops. The leading acquirers usually act on a European level and offer their services cross-border.

Additionally, innovative acquirers also offer the acceptance of card-less payment services based on partner agreements with the issuer of those payment services (e.g. account-based payments, wallets, prepaid products).

Most acquirers either operate their own acquirer systems and ATM/POS/MPOS network service hubs, or they use the processing services of external processors. In order to service online merchants in Europe, they may operate their own PSP processing platforms, or they co-operate with one or more specialised online payment service processors (PSPs).

From 2009, European acquirers compete in their home markets, cross-border on a European level, and cross-channel at POS terminals and servicing online merchants. From 2016, innovative acquirers started to offer omni-channel and multi-payment acceptance.

By mid-2025, omni-channel acceptance includes the ability to service all channels (i.e. POS/MPOS terminals, mobile in-store, online shops, in-app), and to accept multiple payment means in all of these channels. Multi-payment services demanded by merchants include cards, IBAN-based payments (SCT, SDD), online wallets, digital wallets, prepaid products, and immediate payments.

Outlook – By mid-2025, Hungarian acquirers face the following notable challenges:

Although acquiring is concentrated in the hands of OTP and K&H Bank, there are more than seven acquirers, according to MNB. Other major acquirers include Global Payments Hungary, Budapest Bank, MTB Bank, CIB Bank, Worldline SIX Payment Services and UniCredit.

In October 2014, Global Payments Europe (GPE) acquired Erste Bank Hungary’s portfolio of merchants accepting card payments in Hungary and became the bank’s preferred partner for card acceptance. GPE is a wholly owned subsidiary of Global Payments (US), one of the world’s largest card acquirers and card processors.

As of 2021, Global Payments processed card transactions worth $17 billion. In August 2022, Global Payments announced its acquisition of EVO Payments, in a move aimed at increasing Global Payments’ target addressable markets, expanding its presence in new and existing faster-growth geographies, and augment its B2B software and payment solutions with the addition of accounts receivable software with broad third-party acceptance. The combined entity will have 4.5 million merchant locations and more than 1,500 financial institutions worldwide. The transaction will expand Global Payments’ geographic footprint into new geographies such as Poland, Germany, Chile, and upon closing, Greece, as well as enhance its scale in existing markets, including the US, Canada, Mexico, Spain, Ireland, and the UK. The transaction was completed in March 2023.

According to the MNB Hungarian payment service providers’ revenues from card acquiring increased significantly in 2022 as a result of the return of the growth in payment card turnover to pre-pandemic levels. Hungarian payment service providers’ revenues from card acquiring rose more than 40% from 2021 amounting to HUF 25 billion.

In 2023, Hungarian payment service providers continued to experience growth in revenues from card acquiring services. In the fourth quarter of 2023, revenues from these services increased by 10.9% compared to the same period in 2022. This growth reflects the ongoing expansion of electronic payment adoption and the increasing volume of card transactions in Hungary. In 2024, the revenues of domestic payment service providers grew by 14.8% to HUF 969 billion in 2024. The structure of payment service revenues remained almost unchanged. Revenues related to payment card issuance rose the most, advancing by 21.7%.

All acquirers accept Mastercard, VISA, Maestro, and Electron cards. OTP Bank, K&H Bank, Erste Bank and Unicredit are the V PAY acquirers. OTP was previously the main American Express acquirer. Erste Card Club (HR) acquires Diners and Discover cards. OTP, K&H, Global Payments and SIX Payments Europe acquire JCB cards, and Global Payments accepts UnionPay cards. In Hungary, UnionPay cards are accepted at 50,000 merchants. All the ATMs of OTP Bank and CitiBank accept UnionPay cards for cash withdrawal. In September 2019, Worldline announced that it had extended its acquiring platform at Budapest airport to include AliPay and UnionPay.

All Hungarian acquirers have arranged partner agreements to accept all brands of cards on merchants’ demand. However, separate acceptance contracts are practiced in some cases for obvious business reasons demanded by the merchants. Table 6 illustrates the card brands accepted by the acquirer active in Hungary as of mid-2025.

6 - Leading Acquirers in Hungary
Domestic Acquirers Acceptance Brands offered Owned by
OTP Bank Mastercard, VISA, American Express, JCB; Electron, V PAYforeign investors: 56.31%, Domestic investor: 43.54, others: 0.15%
Kereskedelmi es Hitel Bank (K&H) Mastercard, VISA, JCB; Electron, V PAY KBC Bank Group (B)
UniCredit Bank Mastercard, VISA; Electron, V PAY UniCredit Group (I)
Global Payments Hungary Mastercard, VISA, JCB, UnionPay; Electron, V PAY Global Payments Europe (US)
Budapest Bank Mastercard, VISA; Electron, V PAY state-owned
Magyar Takarék Bank (MTB) Mastercard, VISA; ElectronInvestors: 88.98%, Free float 11.02%
CIB Bank Mastercard, VISA; Electron, V PAY Intesa Sanpaolo Group (I)
American Express American Express American Express (US)
Erste Card Club Diners, Discover Erste Bank Group (A)
Note: JCB transactions are also acquired by SIA Payments Europe.
Source: PCM research.

Payment Institutions in Hungary

In 2024, there were eight payment institutions resident in Hungary and licensed by MNB (2023: 9, 2022: 5, 2021: 5, 2020: 5, 2019: 5, 2018: 5, 2017: 6, 2016: 6, 2015: 4). However, 253 foreign payment institutions with EU passports operate in the country on a cross-border basis.

ATM Terminal Infrastructure

There are three major ATM networks operated by processor SIA Central Europe and in-house by OTP and Erste Hungary. Other banks use SIA Central Europe services, their bank group processor or in-house bank IT systems. The EMV migration of ATM terminals has been complete since end-2011.

Hungarian ATM terminals are open for debit cards (Debit Mastercard, Maestro, Cirrus, VISA Debit, Electron, V PAY, and Plus) and credit cards (Mastercard, VISA, American Express, Diners, Discover, Pulse and JCB). UnionPay cardholders can withdraw cash and make a balance enquiry at all ATMs of OTP Bank and Citibank.

The number of ATMs had reached 4,828 by end-2024, and all of them had a cash deposit function. In addition, cash withdrawal facilities are available at 11,449 POS terminals with a cash-advance function, usually in post offices but also in bank branches.

In 2024, there were 88.76 million cash withdrawals (-2.57%) with a total value of HUF 9.16 trillion (+3.60% from 2023). There were 1,532.0 withdrawals per ATM per month. The ATV per cash withdrawal amounted to HUF 104,739.9, equivalent to €264.96.

7 - ATMs and Cash Withdrawals in Hungary
202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
ATM Terminals with cash function5,0044,9194,7064,5634,8285,1085.81%-5.24%-1.07%
Ø Number of TXs per ATM per month1,560.61,521.91,634.51,663.81,532.01,484.9-7.92%-14.90%-3.17%
Number of ATM cash withdrawals (m)93.7189.8392.3091.1088.7691.02-2.57%-19.36%-4.21%
- on domestic cards (m)90.4586.7888.2787.4785.4787.43-2.29%-17.59%-3.80%
- on foreign cards (m)3.263.054.033.633.293.60-9.50%-48.26%-12.35%
Value of ATM cash withdrawals (HUF bn)7,554.97,847.58,826.98,848.29,166.88,805.63.60%17.03%3.20%
- on domestic cards (HUF bn)7,372.97,655.08,565.58,618.48,952.38,605.43.88%19.16%3.57%
- on foreign cards (HUF bn)182.1192.5261.4229.8214.5200.2-6.68%-32.97%-7.69%
ATV per ATM withdrawal (domestic) (HUF)81,514.988,210.797,036.098,527.1104,739.998,430.66.31%44.59%7.65%
# ATM Terminals per 1m capita - Hungary513.2506.6486.0475.8504.9527.56.12%-3.17%-0.64%
# ATM Terminals per 1m capita - EU27 total685.3678.8641.3628.4628.4590.00.00%-27.03%-6.11%
Source: ECB, MNB.

OTP Bank operates the biggest network in Hungary, with 1,931 ATMs at end-2024, and the ATM estate of OTP Bank accounted for 40.0% of the national total.

Erste Bank Hungary/s ATMs are supplemented by the ATMs of the Savings Cooperatives and Banks belonging to the National Savings Cooperative Association, where customers with an Erste debit bank card can withdraw cash on the same terms as Erste.

Cash-advance Services in Hungary – Competition for ATMs 

In an Open Banking ecosystem, the dominant role of ATMs for cash withdrawal services may decline as more cash-advance and cash handling services are offered at retail outlets in Europe.

Cash in-Store – In parallel to ATM cash withdrawals on cards, the Hungarian banks consider supporting cash-advance services on cards at POS terminals in retail outlets (see below).

POS Terminal Infrastructure 

There are six POS network hubs operated by processor SIA Central Europe, OTP, Erste Hungary, and by other in-house bank IT systems. The EMV migration of POS terminals achieved 98% at end-2011 and is complete, since 2012.

From November 2011, contactless POS terminals were rolled out in Hungary. SPAR was the first Hungarian retail chain using contactless technology. The implementation of contactless POS terminals at all SPAR stores was completed by SIA Central Europe.

Accepted card brands at most Hungarian POS terminals are debit cards (Debit Mastercard, Maestro, VISA Debit, Electron, and V PAY) and credit cards (Mastercard, VISA, American Express, Diners, Discover and JCB). More than 50,000 merchants in Hungary accept UnionPay cards at locations frequented by tourists.

The MNB reported 156,351 merchant locations and 305,266 POS terminals (+6.81%) at end-2024, of which 299,039 were contactless POS terminals, 98.0% of the Hungarian POS terminal estate.

The steep increase in the number of POS terminals in 2021 partly reflects the effects related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and partly a legislative change affecting the Trade Act, according to which from 1 January 2021 all taxpayers obliged to use online cash registers had to ensure the possibility of electronic payment, for which more and more merchants began preparations at the end of 2020.

As of 2021, there were 34,000 virtual merchant outlets in Hungary. In 2022, the number of virtual merchant outlets in Hungary continued to increase. The provision of the Act on Trade1 pursuant to which the merchants obliged to use online cash registers (OCRs) have to provide the possibility of electronic payment had entered into effect already in 2021. Hence, the number of virtual merchant outlets increased by 24% to 42,000. This in itself indicates the continuous expansion in online shopping. No update was provided for 2023. Dynamic growth in the number of virtual merchant outlets was already observed in the previous years before the pandemic and was accelerated following lasting changes in consumer payment habits and the shift to e-commerce.

According to MNB, POS terminals include 11,449 POS terminals in post offices and bank branches which can only be used for cash-advance services on cards (i.e. ‘cashback’).

In 2024, there were 1,540.44 million POS payments (+8.18%) with a total value of HUF 13.07 trillion (+9.29% from 2023). There were 420.5 card payments per POS terminal per month, and the ATV per POS payment amounted to HUF 8,300.11, equivalent to €21.00.

MNB noted that transactions at merchants located in the country, but whose acquiring bank is outside the country (cross-border acquiring) are included in POS transactions located outside the country.

8 - POS Terminals in Hungary
202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Merchant Outlets119,183143,646139,310151,680156,351168,6513.08%46.03%7.87%
POS Terminals214,242252,616257,091285,795305,266326,0646.81%62.23%10.16%
- of which EFTPOS terminals214,036251,430257,087285,795305,266326,0646.81%62.42%10.19%
- of which contactless EFTPOS terminals199,890237,262248,859278,578299,039321,0037.34%73.65%11.67%
Ø Number of TXs per POS per month316.3334.4412.8415.2420.5425.91.28%9.72%1.87%
Number of POS payments (m)813.071,013.591,273.421,423.901,540.441,666.608.18%78.00%12.22%
- on domestic cards (m)784.27974.941,186.781,323.771,429.491,543.657.99%77.52%12.16%
- on foreign cards (m)28.8038.6586.6100.1111.0122.9510.81%84.39%13.02%
Value of POS payments (HUF bn)6,762.17,992.610,353.611,963.713,074.614,289.09.29%89.35%13.62%
- on domestic cards (HUF bn)6,481.77,591.39,395.010,871.311,864.912,949.49.14%90.98%13.81%
- on foreign cards (HUF bn)280.4401.3958.61,092.41,209.71,339.610.74%74.76%11.81%
ATV per POS payment (domestic) (HUF)8,264.667,786.477,916.358,212.358,300.118,388.801.07%7.58%1.47%
# POS Terminals per 1m capita - Hungary21,973.226,015.826,548.729,801.031,924.733,671.27.13%65.77%10.64%
# POS Terminals per 1m capita - EU27 total31,503.734,817.042,741.747,601.147,601.152,170.60.00%58.14%9.60%
Note: POS terminals include terminals in post offices and bank branches used for cash advances.
Source: ECB, MNB.

At end-2024, OTP Bank said its acquiring network totalled 170,708 POS terminals. Therefore, its POS terminal estate accounted for 55.9% of the national total. It also operates cash-dispensing POS terminals in its own branches and in post offices across Hungary.

Cash-Advance – Since 2005, cash-advance services (‘cashback’) are offered, in 2024 at 11,449 POS terminals. In 2024, cash-advance transactions amounted to 2.24 million cash-advances (-1.41%) with a total value of HUF 806.5 billion (+3.30% vs 2023). All cash-advances on cards were made at POS terminals installed in bank branches and post offices.

9 - Cash Advances at POS Terminals in Hungary
20202021202220232023GR 22/23GR 5YCAGR 5Y
POS terminals in post offices and bank branches11,01711,18710,91411,20611,4492.17%8.52%1.65%
Withdrawals at POS terminals (m)2.342.322.302.272.24-1.41%-14.58%-3.10%
Value of withdrawals (HUF bn)727.0739.0750.1780.8806.53.30%6.08%1.19%
ATV per cash advance (HUF) 310,289.4317,984.1326,039.5343,542.0359,953.84.78%24.18%4.43%
ATV per cash advance (€) €883.4€886.9€833.2€899.7€910.61.21%0.18%0.04%
Note: withdrawals with domestic cards made at POS terminals installed in Hungarian bank branches and post offices.
Source: ECB, MNB.

MPOS Terminals – Small and mobile merchants have started to use their smartphone and tablet PCs as mini-POS+ECR devices with added chip reader dongle. In late 2012, Square clones like iZettle, SumUp, Miura, and others launched their MPOS services in Europe. It is expected that Hungarian merchants will also demand MPOS terminals. Further, merchants can initiate MOTO-like card payments on their smartphones and tablets by downloading a payment app.

In February 2016, mobile network operator Vodafone Hungary launched its MPOS terminal service branded ReadyPay. The service is based on Ingenico MPOS devices.

In October 2017, SumUp launched its MPOS terminal service in Hungary. Small business owners in Hungary can take card payments with their smartphone and the SumUp Air card reader without any monthly fees or contractual obligations.

SmartPOS Terminals – In 2018, POS terminal vendors launched innovative new types of POS terminals. Named SmartPOS terminals, they combine the electronic cash register functionality (ECR) used by merchants in outlets with a contactless POS payment terminal and merchant services in the cloud. For the very first time, the so far separated ECR devices and POS terminals are integrated in just one checkout solution device. From late 2018, SmartPOS terminal vendors like Castles, Clover, Ingenico, Jusp, Handpoint, PAX, Poynt, Spire Payments, Verifone, Worldline, and others have launched their SmartPOS devices and services in Europe. It is believed that Hungarian SME merchants will embrace SmartPOS terminals.

Global Payments Europe announced plans to launch its SoftPOS service in Hungary in partnership with billing service provider Billingo in 2021.

In October 2022, after completing the sale of its POS division, Worldline announced the closing of the acquisition of 55% of the capital of SoftPos.eu, which transforms Android mobile devices into secure payment terminals. The acquisition is part of Worldline’s strategy to provide payment solutions adapted to all forms of commerce and move towards a more advanced POS terminal business. On the back of SoftPos.eu, Worldline will launch Worldline Tap on Mobile, an end-to-end solution, based on an Android app, allowing all merchants of all sizes to accept payments using a smartphone, tablet, or a professional terminal.

Remote Payments on the Internet – Cards & More

Hungary is still a smaller e-commerce market in Europe with an emerging online shopping population. From 2015, due to EU VAT regulation, Hungarian merchants will have to collect the applicable VAT rate for cross-border sales based on the consumers’ residence.

Internet Use – In 2024, 94% of Hungarians used the internet and 79% of internet users purchased in online shops in the last 12 months. 42% of Hungarian online buyers purchased from neighbouring EU countries. Since 2015, the number of Hungarian consumers buying abroad has risen from 1.5 million to over 3 million. Few online buyers purchase using their PCs, notebooks, tablets, or smartphones. It is noted that 84% of Hungarian mobile device users have accessed the internet via mobile and around 70% of device owners have made online purchases using tablets or smartphones. By 2021, 79% of all Hungarians were estimated to own a smartphone.

About 95% of Hungarian businesses sell their products or services on their own website or mobile application, according to data from Eurostat. The online market, which accounts for 10.4% of total Hungarian retail sales, grew twice as fast in 2021 as in the years before COVID-19.

In 2023, the total B2C e-commerce purchase value was €3.00 billion, up 12.78% compared to 2022. The online purchase value per capita amounted to €312.8, while it was €411.1 per online buyer. In 2023, e-Commerce (eGDP) had a 1.51% market share in the Hungarian GDP (2019: 1.03%).

10 - Internet Use in Hungary
202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Households with internet access88%91%91%93%95%95%2.21%10.21%1.96%
Last internet use (individuals, 12 months)86%89%90%92%94%96%2.17%13.25%2.52%
Internet users who bought online70%74%78%76%79%82%3.47%10.75%2.06%
Last online purchase (individuals, 12 month)60%66%70%70%74%79%5.71%25.42%4.63%
Last online purchase (individuals, 3 month)49%58%61%59%59%62%0.00%68.51%11.00%
Mobile subscribers per 100 inhabitants106.0%106.9%104.1%105.0%105.0%105.0%0.00%-0.12%-0.02%
B2C e-commerce revenue (€bn)2.002.702.703.003.203.406.67%111.92%16.21%
Annual B2C eCommerce growth rate/year32.5%35.0%0.0%11.1%6.7%6.3%−−−
Ø B2C e-Commerce amount per capita €205.1€278.1€278.8€312.8€334.7€351.16.98%116.55%16.71%
Ø B2C e-Commerce amount per online buyer€294.0€375.0€358.5€411.1€425.1€426.73.40%95.54%14.35%
Note: some figures have been restated.
Source: Eurostat, ITU, PCM research

Cards on the Internet (CNP) – All cards with international brands are accepted in Hungarian online shops in the case that merchants have signed an acceptance contract accordingly. Also, the Hungarian banks issue prepaid cards, virtual cards for internet use only, and, from mid-2014, the digital wallet MasterPass.

3D-Secure technology is recommended when paying online with cards. In December 2011, Citibank Hungary claimed to be the first bank to implement 3D-Secure technology in the country. Further, web-based mail order services for merchant-initiated payments and Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) are offered.

The e-payment mix in Hungary – In 2021, according to the MNB, the importance of cash for online shopping is gradually decreasing: in 2021 it was only 30%, a 6-percentage point decrease compared to 2020. Cash-on-delivery is still popular among Hungarian shoppers but 50% of cash-on-delivery transactions are now electronic. As of 2021, 92% of those shopping on the internet paid electronically (by bank card or upon receipt, by individual credit transfer or non-bank fintech payment application). Within that, 34% of shoppers on the Internet used these payment options exclusively.

In 2023, the MNB renewed its payments strategy, and thus, following the two-pillar strategy comprising infrastructure development and incentives to use applied before, the emphasis will be on the incentives to use. The MNB’s latest survey of households’ payment habits suggests that the coverage by bank accounts and bank cards is high enough at the level of the whole adult population, i.e. access to electronic payments in general is not an obstacle to a more intensive use of electronic payments. The main objective of the MNB’s new payments strategy is that from the current 31% the share of electronic transactions in the economy as a whole increase to at least 60% in the case of a wide-ranging, general incentive to use and at least to two thirds in the case of further targeted measures by 2030.

Remote Payments on the Mobile Internet – Since 2011, online buyers with a high affinity for smartphones have started to use their mobile phones for shopping on the mobile internet. Mobile online shops can be accessed by mobile internet, by mobile app, or by scanning a 2D QR-code displayed in a newspaper or at a bus station. Thus, remote mobile phone payments are executed either by using the e-payment page of the mobile online shop or by using payment apps of a PSP or an acquirer.

Also, Hungarian merchants can download a payment app from their acquirer in order to initiate MOTO payments with cards and/or online direct debits. Leading Hungarian merchants are testing their own mobile apps including loyalty functions (e.g. e-vouchers, discounts, outlet finder, QR-code scanning).

Mobile Payments – Overview

In 2024, 105.0% of Hungarians have subscribed to a mobile phone. Many Hungarians own more than one mobile phone and 75% own a smartphone (from 34% in 2013). Also, the tablet penetration has jumped from a very low level. By the end of 2023, the MNB reported that 3.08 million mobile payment accounts were in operation.

So far, only Hungarian mobile operators have offered m-payment services supporting mobile phone-based shopping for goods and services. Purchase amounts have been debited against the subscriber’s account balance managed by the operator for several years.

Since 2009, the next generation of mobile services and payments has started, pushed by online buyers’ high affinity to smartphones and tablets and also by new disruptive technologies (1D-barcodes, QR-code, Bluetooth BLE and Near Field Communication NFC).

Hungary was the third eastern European country to reveal plans for mobile NFC payments, following in the footsteps of Poland and the Czech Republic. Mobile initiatives in Hungary are field testing and using new technologies either as initiating form factors to bridge to online shops on the internet (1D-barcodes, QR-code, NFC) or to enable contactless access to the retail POS outlet (1D-barcodes, QR-code, BLE, Bluetooth Low Energy, NFC Stickers, Mobile NFC Phones) e.g.:

The m-Payment Mix in Hungary – During 2022, within all payment cards, the number and share of cards registered in mobile wallet applications grew dynamically in parallel with the appearance and rapid spread of service providers that are independent of banks. The number of digitised wallet cards increased by more than 450,000 for a total of 1.7 million (representing 17.7% of the payment cards in circulation), which represents an expansion of 37%. By the end of 2023, 23% of cards issued by providers in Hungary were registered in mobile wallets while this share was 69% for cross-border providers. Different payment habits of customers using such providers, and the processes of registering for and using mobile wallets possibly being smoother with these providers than with some banks in Hungary may explain the difference. In 2024, the number of users of mobile payments with cards continued to grow rapidly, with the number of cards registered in mobile wallets exceeding 2.5 million. Within a year, the number of registered cards has increased by 25%, which indicates the simple and widespread availability of the payment solution, as well as its rapid growth in popularity. As a result of this, nearly one-quarter of payment cards had been registered to mobile wallets by the end of 2024. Since 2020, the share of cards registered in mobile wallets has been steadily increasing by an average of 4.1 percentage points per year, meaning that Hungarian customers have been registering an average of around 435,000 payment cards in mobile wallets annually.

Annual turnover expanded from 2020 by 112% and 114% in number and value, respectively. By the end of 2021, around every tenth payment card purchase transaction was conducted using mobile wallets.

According to the MNB, a quarter of the adult population used a mobile phone for payments in at least one payment situation in 2021. Most people, 62% of those who pay by mobile phone, did so for online purchases, but the proportion of people who paid by mobile phone for parking (not by sending a text message, but by using a mobile phone app) and for shop purchases is almost the same, at 57% and 55% respectively.

Hungarian specific, MNB reports mobile phone payments with mobile accounts held at Hungarian mobile network operators by type of purchase excluding payments for telecommunication purposes.

According to MNB, in 2024, there were 44.77 million mobile purchases (+6.51%) with a total value of HUF 37.60 billion (+9.91% from 2023). The ATV per mobile payment amounted to HUF 839.9 (€2.12). These declines are largely due to the effects of pandemic-driven lockdowns restricting usage in physical locations, and the temporary halt of international travel.

11 - Mobile Payments in Hungary
20202021202220232024GR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Number of mobile purchases (m)30.6828.3438.9242.0344.776.51%-0.54%-0.11%
- purchases related to mobile phones3.011.611.140.000.00na-100.00%-100.00%
- purchases of goods0.00.00.00.00.0nanana
- purchases of services25.3124.3435.5339.9142.656.87%19.07%3.55%
- other mobile purchases2.372.382.242.122.11-0.23%7.75%1.50%
Value of mobile purchases (HUFm)22,556.421,520.328,138.434,209.637,601.19.91%71.68%6.65%
- purchases related to mobile phones2,036.11,005.6722.70.00.0na-100.00%-100.00%
- purchases of goods0.00.00.00.00.0−−−
- purchases of services18,535.718,466.025,331.632,108.935,530.110.66%59.79%9.83%
- other mobile purchases1,984.72,048.82,084.02,100.72,071.0-1.42%34.83%6.16%
ATV per mobile payment (HUF)735.1759.5723.1813.9839.93.20%38.71%6.76%
Note: figures exclude payments for telecommunications purposes.
Source: MNB

Mobile Payment Initiatives

In 2025, the various European mobile payment initiatives can be grouped into

Innovative retailers that offer their own apps with loyalty and payment functions to their consumers

European Payments Initiative (EPI) – In July 2020, a group of 16 major Eurozone banks announced the start of the implementation phase of a new unified payment scheme, the European Payment Initiative (EPI).

In 2021, the 31 founding bank groups from seven European countries and two third-party acquirers had included:

In March 2022, EPI gave up on its effort to build a rival to Mastercard and VISA in Europe after more than half its members left. However, 13 shareholders confirmed on February 25th that they remain convinced of the strategic value of a unified payment solution, leveraging instant payments, and want to go ahead. Therefore, the EPI interim company is now adapting its scope and objectives to this new dimension excluding cards.

The remaining shareholders of EPI include Banco Santander, Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel, BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, Deutsche Bank, Deutscher Sparkassen- und Giroverband, Groupe BPCE, ING Bank, KBC Bank, La Banque Postale, NETS (NEXI), Société Générale and Worldline.

In April 2023, the European Payments Initiative acquired the Dutch payment scheme iDeal and, the mobile payments app, Payconiq, both supported by a host of Belgian and Dutch banks.

In July 2024, EPI launched its mobile-first wallet and instant account-to-account payment solution, Wero, for customers of German Sparkassen and Volksbanken, Raiffeisenbanken.

Since its launch in July 2024, Wero has expanded its availability across Europe. By June 2025, the service had been introduced in Germany, France, and Belgium, with plans to extend to Luxembourg in June 2026 and the Netherlands in 2027. The wallet has gained significant traction, reaching approximately 70 million users by September 2025, with 43.5 million active users across the three initial countries.

The ambition of EPI is to create a unified pan-European payment solution leveraging Instant Payments, SCTINST, offering a card for consumers and merchants across Europe, a digital wallet, and P2P payments.

The solution aims to become a new standard payment service for European consumers and merchants in all types of transactions including in-store, online, cash withdrawal and “peer-to-peer” in addition to existing international payment scheme solutions.

EPI’s objective is to offer a digital payment solution that can be used anywhere in Europe and to supersede the fragmented landscape of domestic payment services that currently still exists. In doing so, EPI founders are responding to merchant and consumer communities that have been calling for payment initiatives to take a more pan-European approach.

EPI will first and foremost benefit European citizens, and it will also bring tangible benefits to European merchants, by offering them a seamless, competitive, and unified pan-European payment service solution that is also available to all European consumers.

The beginning of the implementation phase is expected to materialise through the creation of an interim company in Brussels, Belgium, which will set out clear deliverables including the completion of the technical and operational roadmap and initiating the implementation work. The accomplishments of this interim company will be evaluated by each bank before moving on to the EPI’s final corporate structure.

Wero – In September 2023, EPI has selected ‘Wero’ as the commercial name for its forthcoming digital wallet solution. The Wero digital wallet will be rolled out in phases, initially to support account-to-account based instant P2P and consumer-to-business payments, followed by online and mobile shopping payments and then point-of-sale payments. EPI aims to launch Wero by mid-2024 in Belgium, France, and Germany, followed by the Netherlands, and aims to extend to other countries in the years to come. By November 2024, Wero had reached ~14 million users and processed ~8 million transactions in the live markets (Germany, France, Belgium) since its launch in July 2024.

As of September 2025, Wero has rapidly expanded its user base, reaching 43.5 million registered users across Germany, France, and Belgium. In Germany alone, approximately 1.3 million users are utilizing the service through Sparkassen banks. The platform has processed over €7.5 billion in transactions, underscoring its growing adoption.

In December 2023, EPI completed its first instant A2A payment transaction in a proof-of-concept between customers from German Sparkasse Elbe-Elster and French Banque Populaire and Caisse d’Epargne (Groupe BPCE). The inaugural transaction, worth 10 euros, was sent from a German account to a French account using SCTINST and the EPI’s digital wallet.

Central Bank Digital Currencies, Cryptocurrency Products 

In 2024, the Hungarian payment ecosystem was composed of traditional cash payments, digital cryptocurrency products of independent payment service providers and research and development of central bank digital currencies, CBDC. The regulation of cryptocurrencies is becoming increasingly relevant as independent cryptocurrency products have grown more prevalent, posing challenges for regulators and national central banks.

In July 2023, the European Union introduced the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, which aims to standardize cryptocurrency regulation across member states, including Luxembourg. This regulation addresses various aspects of crypto assets, such as market integrity, consumer protection, and financial stability, while also promoting innovation in the sector. Under MiCA, crypto-asset service providers will have specific obligations to protect users’ wallets and mitigate investment risks.

Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) – The Digital Cash Challenge 

Central bank digital currency (CBDC), also called digital fiat currency or digital base money, is a digital currency issued by a national central bank (NCB), rather than by a commercial bank. It is also a liability of the NCB and denominated in the sovereign currency, as is the case with physical banknotes and coins.

All CBDCs are under the authority of the respective national central bank, and they are part of the domestic cash payment ecosystem. Rather than a new currency, CBDC is a form of central bank electronic money that could be used by households and businesses to make payments. In addition, most CBDC implementations will likely not use or need any sort of distributed ledger such as a blockchain.

Unlike “retail CBDC,” which is generally designed as a central bank liability universally accessible to individuals and businesses within a jurisdiction’s financial system, “wholesale CBDC” refers to a digitized central bank liability designed for sizable (generally interbank) transactions, and for which access is limited to certain financial institutions.

National Central Banks (NCBs) have been providing trusted money to the public for hundreds of years as part of their public policy objectives. Trusted money is a public good. It offers a common unit of account, store of value and medium of exchange for the sale of goods and services and settlement of financial transactions. Providing cash for public use is an important tool for central banks. Yet the world is changing.

Even before COVID-19, cash use for payments was declining fast and convenient digital payments have grown enormously in volume and diversity. To evolve and pursue their public policy objectives in a digital world, central banks are actively researching the pros and cons of offering a digital currency to the public, a “general purpose” CBDC.

Central banks’ interest in CBDC has increased as a potential means of delivering their public policy objectives. Profound, ongoing changes across finance, technology and society, as well as the recent COVID-19 crisis, provided additional impetus for the research of, and experimentation related to, CBDCs.

CBDC is a national digital currency issued by the central bank that is expected to replace or coexist with fiat money and hold the same value. Mobile money, on the other hand, utilises existing commercial banking-based accounting to manage customer wallet balances based on an exchange with cash or lines of credit and loans.

CBDC is a direct liability on the central bank as it is the main issuer of the currency, whereas digital money is the liability of commercial banks and other authorised financial institutions using funds on account. Although some implementation approaches propose that CBDC can be implemented in either an indirect or hybrid form, its liability remains on the respective national central bank.

Background on CBDC Evolution

In October 2020, the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, the Federal Reserve, Sveriges Riksbank, the Swiss National Bank and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) published a report, Central bank digital currencies: foundational principles and core features, identifying the foundational principles necessary for any publicly available CBDC to help central banks meet their public policy objectives.

The report focused on a publicly available “general purpose” CBDC (a digital payment instrument, denominated in the national unit of account, that is a direct liability of the central bank).

A “wholesale” CBDC, restricted to financial institutions, is also an active area of exploration, notes the report, for central banks but one that carries different opportunities, challenges, and risks. The report explored the use cases for, and challenges and opportunities arising from, the possible issuance of a general purpose CBDC.

In September 2021, the same seven central banks and the BIS followed up with the publication of a new set of reports exploring the potential of retail CBDCs, including policy options and practical implementation issues. While none of the central banks has yet decided to proceed with a retail CBDC, they recognise such an instrument would have wide-ranging implications. Delivering on the future needs of consumers would require systems that encourage innovation, choice and competition among a diverse mix of intermediaries.

BIS reported that a 2021 survey of central banks found that “86% are actively researching the potential for CBDCs, 60% were experimenting with the technology and 14% were deploying pilot projects.

The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) is piloting a ‘digital yuan’, known as e-CNY, in various cities, often in association with major sporting events, such as the Winter Olympics.

The ECB published a paper on the potential of a “digital euro” in October 2020, exploring the “benefits and risks” of such an initiative. It completed a public consultation in January 2021 and a series of focus groups in December 2021. Its investigation stage is expected to continue until October 2023, after which the ECB “will decide whether to start developing a digital euro.”

The US Federal Reserve reported in February 2022 that while it has made no decisions about “whether to pursue or implement” a CBDC, it was “exploring the potential benefits and risks of CBDCs from a variety of angles and was inviting public feedback on discussion papers.

The Bank of Japan said in October 2020 that it had no plans for a CBDC and was committed to maintain the cash system as long as there was public demand for it. It nevertheless intended to explore technical feasibility through a proof of concept, consider institutional arrangements and coordinate approaches with domestic and international stakeholders. In 2023, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) has announced that it will begin a pilot for its digital yen with commercial financial institutions. In February 2023, Bank of Japan has embarked on a CBDC trial.

In June 2023, the BIS and BoE said they completed a CBDC pilot project involving CBDCs jointly run by the Bank of England (BoE) and the Bank of International Settlements (BIS). Project Rosalind was designed to explore how a “universal and extensible API layer” could connect central bank and private sector infrastructures and enable retail CBDC payments. The project also sought to develop a number of retail-CBDC use cases.

According to the BIS and BoE, the project has successfully demonstrated that “a well-designed API layer could work with different private sector applications and central bank ledger designs and that a set of simple and standardised API functionalities could support a diverse range of use cases”.

In all, the project led to the development of 33 API functionalities and examined 30 retail CBDC cases including peer-to-peer transfers, retail payments for goods and services and small-value business transactions.

While CBDCs are still in experimental phases across major economies, 2024 has seen increased momentum towards real-world implementation, with several countries, notably China and the ECB, moving closer to full-scale rollouts. Public-private collaboration, technological innovation, and privacy concerns remain central to future CBDC development. Central banks worldwide continue to balance innovation with maintaining public trust and financial stability in this rapidly evolving space.

Global Status of CBDCs 

Most National Central Banks (NCBs) are involved in different stages of a CDBC project. Especially, the NCBs have different views on which kind of CDBC they would intend to launch as a digital currency:

As of 2023, the global CDBC status reveals that four central banks – Nigeria (e-Naira), Eastern Caribbean (D-Cash), Jamaica (JAM-DEX), and the Bahamas (Sand Dollar) – have introduced a domestic CBDC scheme.

Six countries have launched a CDBC pilot: France, Canada, China, India, Saudi Arabia, and Ghana.

The NCBs of most other countries are involved in either a CDBC proof-of-concept phase – including Norway, Hungary, and Sweden – or they are still in a CDBC research stage.

So far, Ecuador is the only country that has cancelled its CBDC ambitions, Dinero electronico.

CBDC, the European Union and the Digital Euro

In July 2021, the Estonian Central Bank released a report about its experiment with the ECB and the central banks of Spain, Germany, Italy, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, and the Netherlands to assess the functionality of the digital euro. The project was able to conduct 300,000 transactions per second, with an average rate of less than two seconds per transaction.

In June 2023, the European Commission (EC) has published its legislative proposal establishing the legal framework for a possible digital euro, stressing that the CBDC would be a compliment to, not replacement for, cash.

A digital euro would be available alongside existing national and international private means of payment, such as cards or applications. It would work like a digital wallet, with people and businesses able to pay with it anytime and anywhere in the euro area.

The digital euro would be available for payments both online and offline. While online transactions would offer the same level of data privacy as existing digital means of payments, offline payments would essentially be like paying with cash – with nobody able to see what people are paying for.

The digital euro would be distributed by banks and other payment service providers, with basic services provided to people free of charge. Merchants would be required to accept the digital currency unless they are cash-only firms.

The EC’s proposal still needs to be adopted by the European Parliament and the European Council before the European Central Bank decides whether to roll out a digital euro. Notably, the European Central Bank (ECB) is involved in the preparation phase, which will run until 2025. During this time, technical experimentation and legal discussions are ongoing before any formal rollout decisions can be made​.

As of 2025, the digital euro remains in development but has advanced beyond its early investigation stage. The European Central Bank (ECB) concluded its two-year investigation phase in October 2023 and entered a two-year preparation phase that runs until October 2025. During this stage, the ECB is refining the design, engaging market participants, testing prototypes, and drafting a comprehensive rulebook.

In 2024, the ECB published two progress reports (in June and December) and a third on in July 2025, detailing technical work, design choices (e.g. offline use, calibration, holding limits) and collaboration with stakeholders. The most recent report included further refinement of the rulebook, more user research, and expanded experimentation. The ECB launched an innovation platform that invited private and public sector actors (banking, fintech, merchants) to test ideas, use cases, conditional payments, and prototype features. Around 70 market participants are reported to have been engaged.

On the legal side, the European Commission’s draft regulation for a digital euro is still under negotiation by the European Parliament and Council. Adoption of this regulation is essential before the ECB can issue the digital euro. ECB leaders, including Christine Lagarde, have called on lawmakers to accelerate this legislative process. By October 2025, the ECB has indicated a second phase of the preparation for the Digital Euro. By then, the ECB will have prepared an outreach plan, procurement standards, and technology providers.

Pros and Cons of CBDCs

According to research by the Bank of England, BIS, and by several other central banks, the benefits of CBDCs include supporting increased innovation in the payment system with:

Possible challenges related to use of CBDCs could include:

The ECB commissioned multiple exploratory reports on the feasibility of a digital euro in 2020 and 2021. The ECB’s working paper suggests a two-tier system for a “general purpose” CBDC. In July 2021, the ECB announced that it would launch a 24-month investigation phase for the digital euro project, which aims to address key issues regarding the design and distribution of a digital euro. The investigation phase will include focus groups, prototyping and conceptual work. In February 2022, the European Commission announced that it will propose a bill that would serve as the legal foundation for the issuance of a digital euro by the ECB. In May 2022, Christine Lagarde stated that she would be willing to back the digital Euro. By June 2023, the ECB and European Commission had significantly advanced their legislative and technical work, moving closer to launching a pilot phase for the digital euro in 2024. The pilot phase is expected to assess the practical implementation of the digital euro, following the completion of the current investigation period​.

The working paper states that the use of CBDC for retail payments is the primary use-case for the development of a digital Euro. The paper also rejects the motivation of using CBDC as a store of value, which would involve consumers switching deposits from commercial banks into CBDC. The working paper also recommends that a CBDC should be interest-bearing, with attractive interest rates offered for smaller sums suitable for payments and lower rates available for larger amounts.

CBDC and Hungary

Although the MNB has not made any public commitment to using a CBDC, in early 2021 the MNB governor stated that in Europe, both virtual and public trials of digital currencies were worth exploration to avoid Europe lagging behind America and Asia.

In order to test out the functionality of a retail CBDC and wallet, the MNB launched a targeted pilot for the specific purpose of advancing financial inclusion and literacy amongst students aged between 8-14 years. The Digital Student Safe project allowed students to collect and exchange digital assets like medals and stamps, in return for participating in educational programming. In a BIS paper in 2022, the MNB stated that the pilot was valuable in understanding the procedural aspects of CBDC developments, as well as testing for operability, scalability, and user experience in addition to developing a connection to real money. The MNB has decided to further develop the pilot program in 2022-23.

The MNB has stated that it has not found a market gap which could be filled with the widespread introduction of a CBDC. However, its motivations for the Digital Student Safe Pilot included providing a testing ground for the operability of a digital currency system.

In June 2023, MNB collaborated with Perfinal to Launch the first Retail CBDC Pilot Project in the EU Marking a New Milestone and Benchmark in Global Digital Currency Innovation.

Cryptocurrencies EU

The regulation of crypto assets and related services across Europe is not standardised and is highly fragmented. While no nation has outright banned usage of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum and others, regulators have not formed a consensus over how to legislate such a quickly fluctuating market, where new cryptocurrencies emerge faster than regulators can catch up to.

The current approach across Europe is to adapt existing legislations to encompass cryptocurrencies, however, this is unlikely to be efficient as consumer and business usage changes.

In the European Union, the fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD5) covers certain crypto assets under the term “virtual currencies”, but it does not provide a harmonised approach. As a result, each Member State has created its own regulatory regime for transactions related to “virtual currencies” or crypto assets.

In response, the European Commission proposed the Markets in Crypto-assets (MiCA) regulation in 2020 as part of the Digital Finance Strategy, with MiCA expected to come into force in 2022 and will be directly applicable in all Member States after an 18-month transition period. MiCA will result in a harmonised set of rules for products and services and legal certainty related to crypto assets throughout the European Union in 2024. This would enable a larger number of investors to be active in this area and to use distributed ledger technology (DLT).

MiCA is to apply to all persons who want to issue crypto assets or provide services related to crypto assets in the EU.

The MiCA proposal is intended to lay down uniform rules on transparency and disclosure requirements for the issuance, offer to the public and the admission to trading of crypto assets. In addition, there are rules on the authorisation and supervision of crypto asset service providers and their issuers.

The main focus lies with the issuers of asset-referenced tokens and e-money tokens. The Regulation intends to regulate the operation, organisation and governance of issuers of asset referenced tokens and e-money tokens and crypto asset service providers. There will also be investor protection rules for the issuance, trading, exchange and custody of crypto assets. In addition, measures to prevent market abuse are to be included in the Regulation to ensure the integrity of the crypto assets markets.

In June 2022, the EU Council President and European Parliament reached agreement on MiCA regulation, ruling that crypto asset service providers will require authorisation to operate in the EU, not including NFTs or media-related digital assets.

Under the agreement, the regulatory framework will protect investors and consumers, while ensuring financial stability and enabling innovation and growth. The regulations will help protect consumers from fraud and scams, as crypto asset service providers will be liable if they lose assets and fail to protect investors’ wallets. The European Banking Authority (EBA) will form a public register of non-compliant crypto asset providers.

The regulation will also implement restrictions on stablecoins, with stablecoin issuers to be supervised by the EBA and their “holders will be offered a claim at any time and free of charge.

Recent updates in 2024 have introduced detailed procedural standards for cooperation between national regulatory authorities (NCAs), enhancing their ability to oversee, investigate, and inspect crypto asset service providers. This framework ensures more consistent and transparent enforcement across EU jurisdictions, including stronger measures to prevent market manipulation and fraud.

MiCA’s comprehensive framework is expected to encourage more institutional investors to enter the crypto market, while providing a safer environment for retail investors. It also addresses environmental concerns by mandating transparency on the climate impact of certain crypto assets.

Unregulated Cryptocurrency Products – Background 

Regulators and national central banks are challenged by unregulated independent cryptocurrency products. Whereas CBDCs are under the authority of the central bank, almost all cryptocurrencies are decentralised, and not controlled or managed by any central authority.

Obviously, financial market authorities and the national central banks are not in favour of unregulated cryptocurrency products, and they see them as a systematic risk for the financial system. Their intention to regulate the respective cryptocurrency exchange platforms has gained momentum.

Cryptocurrencies, originally designed as a store of value, are digital assets, developed and maintained on decentralised blockchains, and they can be used as a medium of exchange or payment method. Bitcoin and Ethereum are the most popular forms of cryptocurrencies worldwide used by consumers and businesses for transactions.

As of 2022, over 400 million people worldwide used cryptocurrencies, with merchants and businesses in more sectors accepting it as a form of payment. The major payment schemes VISA and Mastercard, PayPal and along with a growing number of financial institutions, have launched services allowing consumers to purchase or use cryptocurrencies for a range of applications.

According to a 2022 Deloitte survey, around two-thirds (64%) of surveyed merchants indicated that their customers have significant interest in using digital currencies for payments, and 83% expect consumer interest in digital currencies for payments to increase or significantly increase over the next 12 months.

In addition, merchants are motivated by the prospect of enabling immediate access to funds (40% of respondents), taking advantage of blockchain-based innovations in decentralised digital finance (39%), and allowing in-house management of the revenue cycle/treasury/finance department (39%).

Over half (54%) of large retailers (with revenues of $500 million and up) have invested more than $1 million on enabling digital currency payments, while only 6% of small retailers (with revenues of under $10 million) did so.

A 2022 survey from Checkout.com found a sharp rise in people wanting to use cryptocurrencies as a means of payment, with 40% of 18-35-year-old consumers citing their desire to experiment with using crypto as a payment method, up from less than 30% in 2021. Meanwhile, over 80% of businesses say offering crypto has attracted new customers, led to a decrease in chargebacks, while just over 60% have seen higher authorisation rates accepting crypto payments.

A recent report by Triple-A for 2024–2025 reports estimate cryptocurrency ownership in Europe has climbed to approximately 50 million people, up from around 30 million in 2023. Crypto adoption in Europe grew to 8.9% of the adult population in 2025, driven by greater institutional access, major regulatory changes (like MiCA), and clearer frameworks for exchanges and wallet providers. This keeps Europe’s ownership rate ahead of previous years, though still trailing regions like Asia and the Americas in terms of total share and growth rate.

Stablecoins

Stablecoins are a type of asset-backed cryptocurrency, whose value is typically pegged to the value of an underlying asset such as USD, GBP, or commodities like gold. Stablecoins are partially backed by real assets, and they are designed to have a value pegged to real-world assets, therefore avoiding the extreme volatility that affects cryptocurrencies.

Stablecoins offer the potential benefits of cryptocurrencies, like transparency, security, immutability, and decentralised control, while maintaining the guarantees and stability that come with using fiat currency. Stablecoins have potential to be used in cross-border payments, providing a secure, online environment for peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions to take place without needing decentralised cryptocurrencies or to pay fees to convert money into local currencies.

As of mid-2025, there were more than 200 stablecoins globally, comprising a market that’s worth about $230 billion.

A survey of central banks in January 2021 found that two-thirds of respondents are actively researching the potential impact of stablecoins on financial stability. However, some regulators in the US and China, consider stablecoins as a potential serious risk to financial systems. The risk is especially high with centralised coins, such as those backed by fiat and issued by private organisations, as economic power would be disproportionately concentrated on a single entity.

The widespread use of stablecoins in payment platforms could also pose a systemic risk, in relation to the validation and confirmation of stablecoin transactions which could interfere with payment systems. If stablecoin users couldn’t access money in their e-wallets and businesses couldn’t receive payments, economic activity would be greatly disrupted. However, these risks have not deterred major institutions like JP Morgan and VISA to explore stablecoin use cases via partnerships and internal R&D.

Tether As of mid-2025, Tether remains the largest stablecoin globally, holding a market share of over 60%. This dominance is driven by its massive liquidity, broad adoption across exchanges and blockchains, and large reserve holdings, especially in U.S. Treasuries. Its nearest competitors include USD Coin (USDC), Binance USD (BUSD), and decentralized stablecoins like DAI, although Tether’s market share far exceeds them. Recent reports have shown Tether’s involvement in major financial markets and even Bitcoin mining, further reinforcing its stronghold on the crypto landscape.

Regarding Facebook’s Diem (formerly Libra) project, it was officially abandoned. Diem’s assets were sold off to Silvergate Capital in early 2022, marking the end of the initiative that once aimed to create a globally accessible digital currency. Regulatory pressures and internal challenges led to the dissolution of the project.

Market Size and Dynamics

Cards in Issue

With a population of 9.56 million, there were 1.08 bank cards per capita at end-2024, indicating considerable potential for future growth even after the moderate expansion of the Hungarian card business in the recent years.

According to MNB and ECB, at end-2024, the number of bank cards had reached 10.28 million (+2.09% vs 2023). Debit cards accounted for 88.66% of the total bank card base. According to MNB, contactless cards amounted to 93.08% of the total card base.

12 - Cards Issued in Hungary
(000s)202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Cards with a cash function9,126.69,034.39,173.49,287.49,490.49,282.92.19%9.89%1.90%
Cards with a payment function9,924.99,845.79,965.710,070.810,281.410,548.42.09%9.46%1.82%
- Cards with a debit function8,707.08,599.78,817.98,953.89,116.09,330.51.81%12.34%2.35%
- Cards with a delayed debit function14.812.510.68510.77010.03811.0-6.80%-40.14%-9.75%
- Cards with a credit function1,203.11,233.51,137.21,106.21,155.41,206.84.45%-8.40%-1.74%
Total cards9,925.99,846.39,965.710,070.810,281.410,548.42.09%9.44%1.82%
- thereof contactless cards9,116.19,127.29,250.79,366.09,569.89,916.42.18%19.47%3.62%
Payment cards per capita - Hungary1.021.011.031.051.081.092.39%11.84%2.26%
Payment cards per capita - EU27 total1.651.721.851.811.811.860.00%15.65%2.95%
Source: ECB, MNB.

Cards by payment function – According to MNB and typical for eastern Europe, card types, brands and payment function have been more complex than expected when just looking at the face of a card product. In other words, cards branded, for example, Mastercard, VISA, or Electron can have either debit, delayed debit, credit, or prepaid payment functions.

In 2024, MNB reported 795,108 business cards and 710,362 virtual cards for internet use. Also, there were 177,162 co-branded cards issued in cooperation with retailers.

13 - Payment Card Functions in Hungary
(000s)20202021202220232024GR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Debit cards8,708.08,600.28,819.28,968.19,117.11.66%12.26%2.34%
Credit cards1,217.21,246.01,147.91,114.01,165.54.62%-8.80%-1.83%
Total cards9,925.19,846.39,967.010,082.110,282.61.99%9.39%1.81%
- thereof consumer cards9,158.59,080.39,199.99,290.99,487.52.12%8.96%1.73%
- thereof business cards766.6765.9767.2791.3795.10.49%14.87%2.81%
- thereof co-branded 662.8644.1256.0252.7177.2-29.90%-73.03%-23.05%
- thereof virtual cards762.8688.9711.6703.5710.40.98%-3.14%-0.64%
- thereof contactless cards9,116.19,127.29,250.79,376.19,569.82.07%19.47%3.62%
Contactless cards as % of the total91.8%92.7%92.8%93.0%93.1%0.08%9.21%1.78%
Mobile payment accounts held by MNOs3,572.53,328.83,205.13,082.83,034.8-1.56%-21.23%-4.66%
Note: debit cards include a few prepaid and debit cards with a credit line; credit cards includes a few delayed debit cards.
Source: Magyar Nemzeti Bank (MNB).

Specific to Hungary, MNB reported 3.03 million mobile accounts held at the Hungarian mobile network operators, down by 1.56% from 2023. They are used for mobile phone purchases excluding payments for telecommunication purposes.

Card Fraud

Card fraud is one of the most fascinating aspects of the payments industry, not least because it is relentless and mutating. EMV implementation and 3D-Secure, combined with Strong Customer Authentication (SCA), have done much to reduce domestic losses from lost and stolen cards in Europe. However, the war against fraud losses and the changing face of fraud continues to be a threat for the payments industry, including Hungary.

The global card fraud challenges are Card-Not-Present fraud (CNP), cross-border fraud and counterfeiting on non-EMV cards. CNP fraud accounted for 80% of the total value of card fraud losses in 2020. From 2017, a new payment fraud category are fraud losses on contactless card payments. International card fraud continues to be smaller in scale than domestic card abuse but is proportionately far more common. And of course, fraudulent cross-border transactions on cards continue to grow on all purchase channels.

Losses from card fraud on the internet and cross-border fraud on domestic cards have grown significantly. Following EMV implementation, card fraud has moved increasing to countries where POS terminals or online shops have not yet been migrated to EMV and SCA, respectively, and to cross-border fraud with compromised cards.

The breakdown of card fraud losses by method of compromise already indicates the importance of distinguishing between domestic and cross-border fraud losses. The method of compromise covers the means by which fraudsters obtain payment cards or card details. Notable methods of compromise in a complex payment world are CNP fraud based on theft of card credentials and card lost and stolen fraud followed by growing ID fraud and by cross-counterfeit fraud.

The main method of compromise responsible for losses in many European countries is now the theft of card credentials. A high proportion of these card fraud losses are caused by the growth in e-commerce, and still the lack of use of strong customer authentication methods such as 3D-Secure.

In a post data-breach world, identity information, payment credentials, account credentials and responses to security questions are widely available for purchase in bulk. Complete fraud exploits and zero-day attacks are also easily available on the black market for outright purchase or as a hosted / fully managed service.

In the digital payments world and having the changing face of fraud in mind, there are significant challenges for card issuing banks, payment service providers and their supporting processors.

While card fraud losses in Hungary have been fairly stable since 2007, there have been quite a few changes in the types of fraud attacks, according to domestic fraud experts. Counterfeit was 65% of the fraud mix in 2008 but is now just 0.1% in 2022. To fill that gap, criminals have taken CNP fraud from 23% of total losses in 2008 to 51.3%, down 18.43% since 2021, mainly due to the introduction of SCA in 2021. Lost & Stolen has been reduced since its peak in 2010 and is now 3.57% of the total card fraud mix.

According to the MNB, the ratio of frauds to turnover in 2021 was still insignificant in the case of payment card and other electronic transactions, but cases based on deception and psychological manipulation continue to spread, and – because of fraudsters’ quick adaptation – the wider application of SCA could only partly meet the related expectations. At the same time, the committed 62,000 thousand fraud incidents and the related loss of HUF 1.6 billion caused did not even amount to 0.01% of the card turnover in 2021, and as a result of the dynamic expansion in the turnover there is even some improvement compared to 2020.

While positive trends prevailed in connection with the decline in payment card fraud in H1 2021, both the number and value of successful fraud grew again as of Q3 2021. Another unfavourable trend is that the volume of losses charged to customers is growing considerably in parallel with an increase in the role of deception and psychological manipulation. Non-card frauds are also negligible compared to the total credit transfer turnover. Moreover, this ratio is still only one tenth of what is seen on the card issuer side.

Overall, although compared to 2020 the number of payment card frauds declined considerably, by nearly 15% on the issuer side, fraud value was up 12%. Fraudsters shifted towards deception and psychological manipulation in connection with payment card fraud to try to circumvent the obstacles created by SCA, by conducting transactions outside the EEA using the card data obtained. Among the most frequent methods is fraudsters pretending to be bank employees and asking customers to give out sensitive payment data through phone calls.

Compared to the previous year, in 2021 the amount of losses written off declined significantly on both the issuer and acquirer sides, but the value and ratio of losses charged to cardholders increased considerably both nominally and within total losses as well. While the former increased by 104%, the latter was 14 percentage points up. In 2021, customers had to incur losses amounting to a total value of HUF 465 million, which exceeds the previous year’s figure by HUF 236 million.

Although it is still negligible compared to the total turnover, the degree of payment card fraud increased in 2022, primarily in relation to online purchases and psychological manipulation. The number of frauds related to cards issued in Hungary increased by 74% in 2022, while their value more than doubled (a growth of 135%). However, as a result of the dynamic expansion in turnover, these figures continue to account for a negligible portion of the total payment card turnover: less than 0.02% in terms of both number and value. This is less than the European average of 0.021% in terms of number and 0.028% in terms of value according to ECB’s report. The data reveal that the mandatory strong customer authentication introduced in the case of transactions conducted within the European Economic Area was unable to permanently prevent the increase in fraud; it only changed their methods. Typically, many low-value frauds take place by circumventing the strong customer authentication, while there are fewer higher-value frauds related to transactions subject to strong customer authentication. In 2022, 86% of the frauds took place during transactions exempt from strong customer authentication, but despite their high number, they accounted for only 43% of the value of frauds.

As for the types of frauds, the significance of phishing declined, and instead of that most of the frauds took place in connection with orders through the Internet, mail, and telephone or using psychological manipulation.

In light of the increase in fraud indicators, it is disadvantageous that most of the losses caused by payment card frauds are shifted onto bank customers. Although on the acquirer side, the loss written off by acquiring banks almost quadrupled (a growth of 391%), it still accounts for only 2.4% of the acquirers’ losses. Most of the loss is charged to the issuing bank. Issuers charge 43% (HUF 1,263 million) of the issuer side loss to customers, while issuers bear 29% (HUF 837 million) of it themselves. Considering that frauds are increasingly based on deception, and in that case, the customer’s responsibility is much greater, the value of the loss charged to customers grew by 172%.

Similar trends are also observed in the area of frauds not related to payment cards; there is an increase, but the ratio of frauds is still negligible. Here the ratio of frauds more than doubled, while their value grew by 256%. Nevertheless, the 5,971 cases of fraud still represented a value of only HUF 9 billion, which is less than one ten-thousandth of the value of the total credit transfer turnover.

In 2023, the number and value of fraudulent payment transactions increased significantly compared to the previous year, banks have indispensable role in fraud prevention by improving their systems and providing their customers with easy-to-understand information. The most common fraud types are phishing by deceiving customers and persuading them to initiate transactions. Based on the fraud data it is clear that using real-time fraud detection systems, enabling to set transaction limits for payment accounts and applying strict customer identification could prevent a significant part of fraudulent transactions. As a result of repeated calls and active communication of the MNB, banks made notable efforts for fraud prevention in the second half of 2023.

In 2024, criminals exploited the benefits of digitalisation: consequently, most of the fraudulent payments takes place online, where they can reach a wide audience with a lower risk compared to earlier times. In Hungary, in 2024, more than 226,000 cases of fraud caused total damages of nearly HUF 42 billion, the largest part of which is borne by the customers. This represents a threefold increase in volume of payment fraud and nearly a tenfold increase in the total value compared to 2020. The increase in the value of fraud linked to credit transfers came to a halt in 2024, unlike payment card fraud, where both the number and value of fraudulent transactions keep on rising. The volume of card-based payment fraud by cards issued in Hungary reached 207,000 in 2024, an annual increase of 13.5%. In 2024, the total value of fraud was HUF 10.8 billion, indicating an increase of 30.2% compared to 2023 and this exceeds the growth of volume of card-based fraud.  Nonetheless, card payments continue to be secure, because volume of card-based fraud as a share of total card payments is only 0.01%, same as in 2023. In 2023, card fraud losses increased by HUF 2.1 billion and by 71.6% year-over-year in Hungary.

In 2022, the losses of payment service providers from fraudulent electronic payments amounted to HUF 9,111.8 million compared to HUF 2,555.9 million in 2021, however, the 2020 figure included fraud by data phishing, ID theft, and other fraud measures that inflated the figure compared to previous years.

Hungary’s card fraud loss mix is aligned with European trends. Counterfeit fraud (0.1%) declined and CNP fraud continues to fluctuate in response to measures like SCA and biometric ID. In 2022, CNP made up 51.3% of the total card fraud losses, down 18.43% a year earlier. Around 80% of the counterfeit was cross-border. According to the ECB, the value of fraudulent transactions in cards in Hungaryin H1 2023 amounted to EUR 8.94 million and represented 0.041% of total payments. This was higher than the EU/EEA average of 0.031%.

14 - Card Fraud Losses on Hungarian Cards
(in HUF Mio.)20182019202020212022GR 21/22GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Counterfeit cards141.7139.716.83.62.5-30.87%-98.64%-57.65%
Card lost or stolen72.668.351.687.9151.772.52%156.36%20.72%
ID fraud2.81.267.1164.4260.758.54%208462.40%361.16%
Card not present fraud1,456.71,121.11,264.51,139.32,182.491.55%150.55%20.17%
other losses39.041.356.1414.81,653.3298.55%4071.51%110.89%
Value of issuer card fraud losses1,712.81,371.61,456.11,810.24,250.6134.82%268.35%29.79%
Counterfeit fraud in %8.3%10.2%1.2%0.2%0.1%-70.56%-99.63%-67.37%
CNP fraud in %85.0%81.7%86.8%62.9%51.3%-18.43%-31.98%-7.42%
Fraudulent electronic payments
Number of successful fraud attempts 114521,0802,5125,973137.78%16491.67%177.96%
Value of successful fraud attempts278.5218.02,748.82,555.99,111.8256.50%6587.52%131.77%
Note: for 2020, ID fraud includes fraud by data phishing/identity theft and other losses include fraud by psychological manipulation.
Source: Magyar Nemzeti Bank (MNB).

During 2022, OTP Bank reported it had experienced numerous card-related attacks. The Bank stated that in the course of card-related attacks, the sharing of important information was extremely helpful in the prevention of fraudulent transactions. The ratio of bank card fraud to turnover was significantly lower than the European average published by Mastercard (for OTP Bank:  0.0108% and the consolidated ratio of subsidiaries is 0.0087%, while the European average stands at 0.0427%). OTP Bank said it prevented bank card fraud of HUF 5.0 billion in 2022. Compared to 2023 and in contrast to other domestic banks, OTP Bank reported a decrease in card fraud in 2024, both in terms of the number of fraud attempts and the value of successful fraud. In 2024, the value of successful bank card misuse was HUF 3.5 billion, of which the value of successful transactions with OTP-issued cards was HUF 3.2 billion. In line with previous years, the bank claimed to have a significantly lower ratio of card fraud to turnover than the European average published by Mastercard (OTP Bank: 0.0253%, European average 0.0407%).

According to ECB figures published in October 2021, the value of card fraud as a share of transaction value was 0.006% and 0.003% by volume in 2019. According to ECB figures for H1 2023, the value of card fraud as a share of transaction value in Hungary was 0.041% (EU/EEA average: 0.031%) and 0.011% (EU/EEA average: 0.015%) by volume. A significant update on Fraud numbers across Europe is expected from the ECB in 2026.

In 2019 acquirer card fraud losses by channel were composed of ATM fraud: 4%, POS fraud: 26% and CNP fraud: 70%.

As most POS transactions are authorised online-to-issuer, acquirer fraud rates in Hungary are under control except for offline vending machines, e-commerce and other hotspots. Obviously, EMV implementation has contributed significantly to declining fraud rates.

In 2019 issuer card fraud losses in Hungary by channel were composed of ATM fraud 3%, POS fraud 10% and CNP fraud: 87%.

Hungarian banks are pushing 3D-Secure, offer PIN-change services at ATMs and SMS notification to inform cardholders about the use of their credit card. The increasing numbers of chip technology cards, contactless cards and display cards have led to improved safety of payment transactions. Credit card fraud prevention measures taken have been pushing 3D-Secure, updating banks’ fraud prevention systems and real-time-scoring and implementing more rule-based fraud control mechanisms.

Card Use

The number of POS payments in Hungary overtook ATM withdrawals for the first time in 2007.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cash withdrawals, POS payments, and online payments is characterised by large swings in usage rates over the year.

In 2024, cards accounted for 1,972.93 million payments (+10.30%) with a total value of HUF 19.64 trillion (+13.39% vs 2023) amounting to an average of 207.9 payments per card per year (+7.94%). The ATV per card payment amounted to HUF 9,954.6 (€25.18).

Included in the card payments total in 2024 were 369.49 million remote payments (+17.30%) with a total value of HUF 6,358.8 billion (+22.60% on 2023).

The use of Hungarian cards abroad accounted for a significant 483.19 million payments worth HUF 5,549.99 billion, accounting for 24.49% and 28.26% of total card payments, respectively.

15 - Payments with Hungarian Cards
202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Cards with a payment function9,126,6429,034,2589,173,4119,287,3699,490,4239,282,929.542.19%9.89%1.90%
Ø payments per card per year116.8142.3172.6192.6207.9224.27.94%80.37%12.52%
Ø payment value (HUF) per card per year966,500.81,186,620.11,567,282.11,864,929.52,069,428.02,261,766.410.97%133.05%18.44%
Payments (m)1,065.801,285.351,583.731,788.741,972.932,080.8610.30%98.21%14.66%
- thereof remote payments (m)189.17222.83271.40315.00369.49433.3917.30%151.70%20.28%
- thereof POS payments (m)876.621,062.521,312.341,473.731,603.441,647.478.80%88.96%13.57%
- thereof cross-border payments (m)96.26110.16340.12418.25483.19558.2115.53%438.52%40.04%
- with debit cards (m)956.791,168.371,436.801,625.251,812.211,916.4411.50%107.64%15.73%
- with delayed debit cards (m)0.150.080.120.180.200.0411.11%-54.34%-14.51%
- with credit cards (m)108.85116.90131.87143.64157.05164.389.34%28.57%5.15%
Value of payments (HUF bn)8,820.910,720.214,377.317,320.319,639.720,995.8213.39%156.10%20.69%
- thereof value of remote payments (HUF bn) 2,335.9 2,747.8 3,899.2 5,186.4 6,358.8 7,796.2522.60%254.23%28.78%
- thereof POS payments (HUF bn)6,485.037,972.4210,478.1412,133.8413,280.9113,199.579.45%126.11%17.72%
- thereof cross-border payments (HUF bn)1,076.261,296.983,588.824,478.105,549.996,878.4623.94%431.15%39.65%
- with debit cards (HUF bn)7,928.69,749.912,978.915,672.718,003.119,341.5014.87%167.71%21.77%
- with delayed debit cards (HUF bn)9.85.90.10.20.10.14-7.83%-99.50%-65.34%
- with credit cards (HUF bn)882.5964.41,162.31,362.91,548.61,654.1813.63%69.20%11.09%
ATV per card payment (HUF)8,276.48,340.39,078.19,683.09,954.610,090.02.81%29.21%5.26%
Source: ECB, MNB.

According to MNB, remote payments with Hungarian cards on the internet continued to grow significantly indicating that cards are a preferred payment means for Hungarian online shoppers.

According to MNB, in 2024, there were 467.10 million internet payments on Hungarian cards (+48.01%) with a total value of HUF 6,365.14 billion (+19.63% on 2023). Online purchases made abroad were 33.9% by number and 43.4% by value.

16 - Internet Payments on Hungarian Cards
20202021202220232024GR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Number of remote payments (m)189.18223.24270.23315.58467.1048.01%216.64%25.93%
- thereof domestic105.63131.23166.47188.94308.6763.37%265.64%29.60%
- thereof abroad 83.5592.01103.76126.65158.4225.09%151.08%20.22%
Value of remote payments (HUFbn) 2,335.87 2,751.31 3,910.84 5,320.86 6,365.14 19.63%253.32%28.72%
- thereof domestic 1,419.66 1,689.52 2,384.95 3,304.89 3,603.58 9.04%236.02%27.43%
- thereof abroad 916.22 1,061.79 1,525.89 2,015.96 2,761.56 36.98%278.77%30.52%
ATV per remote payment (HUF)12,347.512,324.214,472.316,860.313,627.0-19.18%11.58%2.22%
Number of remote payments abroad44.2%41.2%38.4%40.1%33.9%-15.48%-20.70%-4.53%
Value of remote payments abroad39.2%38.6%39.0%37.9%43.4%14.51%7.20%1.40%
Source: MNB.

Cash withdrawals – According to MNB, in 2024, there were 87.35 million cash withdrawals on Hungarian cards (-2.49%) giving an average of 9.2 withdrawals per card per year (-4.57%). The total withdrawal value on cards was HUF 9.10 trillion and showed an increase of 3.62% from 2023. The ATV per cash withdrawal accounted for HUF 104,739.9, equivalent to €264.96.

17 - Cash Withdrawals with Hungarian Cards
202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Cards with a cash function (000s)9,126.69,034.39,173.49,287.49,490.49,282.92.19%9.89%1.90%
Ø Cash withdrawals per card per year10.29.79.89.69.29.6-4.57%-24.63%-5.50%
Ø Total cash withdrawals value per card per year844,790.4857,265.3949,767.8946,200.6959,435.8943,455.81.40%8.01%1.55%
Number of ATM cash withdrawals (m)93.4787.8690.1989.5887.3589.33-2.49%-17.17%-3.70%
- thereof withdrawals domestic (m)90.4586.7888.2787.4785.4787.43-2.29%-17.59%-3.80%
- thereof withdrawals abroad (m)3.021.081.922.111.881.91-10.78%7.50%1.46%
Value of ATM cash withdrawals (HUF bn)7,710.17,744.88,712.68,787.79,105.58,758.03.62%18.70%3.49%
- thereof withdrawals domestic (HUF bn)7,372.97,655.08,565.58,618.48,952.38,605.43.88%19.16%3.57%
- thereof withdrawals abroad (HUF bn)337.289.7147.1169.4153.1152.6-9.58%-3.29%-0.67%
ATV per cash withdrawal on cards (HUF)81,514.988,210.797,036.098,527.1104,739.998,430.66.31%44.59%7.65%
Total cash withdrawals per capita9.69.09.39.39.19.2-2.20%-15.36%-3.28%
Total cash withdrawals value (HUF) per capita790,767.3797,598.8899,715.4916,330.9952,246.9904,406.13.92%21.29%3.94%
Source: ECB, MNB.

Card Use per Capita

In 2024, total card payments per capita were 206.0 transactions, up 11.65% from 2023 and up from 109.3 payments per capita in 2020 (+15.12%). Out of the total, 189.5 payments per capita were made with debit cards and 16.4 per capita were made with credit cards. In addition, there were 9.1 cash withdrawals per capita.

18 - Card Payments Per Capita in Hungary
20202021202220232024GR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Debit card payments per capita98.1120.3148.4169.5189.511.83%112.18%16.24%
Debit card value per capita€2,315.1€2,800.7€3,425.3€4,279.8€4,762.911.29%125.12%17.62%
Delayed debit card payments per capita0.00.00.00.00.0nanana
Delayed debit card value per capita€2.9€1.7€0.0€0.0€0.0-10.70%-99.58%-66.52%
Credit card payments per capita11.212.013.615.016.49.66%31.38%5.61%
Credit card value per capita€257.7€277.0€306.7€372.2€409.710.09%42.28%7.31%
Total card payments per capita109.3132.4162.0184.5206.011.65%102.19%15.12%
Total card value per capita€2,575.6€3,079.4€3,732.1€4,652.1€5,172.611.19%114.40%16.48%
Note: delayed debit card payments for 2018 and 2019 are negligible and show as zero due to rounding.
Source: ECB, MNB.

Debit Card Use

Debit cards are more frequently used than credit cards, which have yet to acquire higher popularity. Debit card payments have grown by 15.73% in the last five years.

According to MNB, in 2024, there were 1,812.21 million debit card payments (+11.50%) with a total value of HUF 18.00 trillion (+14.87% vs 2023). The ATV per debit card payment was HUF 9,934.3 (€25.13), and there were 198.8 payments per debit card per year.

19 - Payments with Hungarian Debit Cards
202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Debit cards8,707,0058,599,6558,817,8648,953,8339,115,9759,330,5281.81%12.34%2.35%
Ø payments per debit card per year109.9135.9162.9181.5198.80.09.52%84.84%13.07%
Ø payments value (HUF) per debit card per year910,595.01,133,755.51,471,891.71,750,393.61,974,893.215.912.83%138.32%18.97%
Payments (m)956.791,168.371,436.801,625.251,812.210.1211.50%107.64%15.73%
Value of payments (HUFbn)7,928.69,749.912,978.915,672.718,003.10.114.87%167.71%21.77%
ATV per debit card payment (HUF)8,286.68,344.99,033.29,643.39,934.31,292.53.02%28.93%5.21%
Source: ECB, MNB.

Credit Card Use

Credit card payments showed significant growth rates from 2020, against a backdrop of a slight decline in credit card numbers in recent years. In 2023, there were 157.05 million credit card payments (+9.34%) with the total value HUF 1,548.6 billion (+13.63% vs 2023). The ATV per credit card payment was HUF 9,860.8 (€24.95), and there were 135.9 payments per credit card per year.

20 - Payments with Hungarian Credit Cards
202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Credit cards1,203,0791,233,4791,137,1971,106,1891,155,4221,206,8464.45%-8.40%-1.74%
Ø payments per credit card per year90.594.8116.0129.9135.90.14.68%40.37%7.02%
Ø payments value (HUF) per credit card per year733,560.3781,842.31,022,053.41,232,032.51,340,320.0112.98.79%84.72%13.06%
Payments (m)108.85116.90131.87143.64157.050.099.34%28.57%5.15%
Value of payments (HUFbn)882.5964.41,162.31,362.91,548.60.113.63%69.20%11.09%
ATV per credit card payment (HUF)8,107.88,249.48,813.89,488.09,860.81,460.13.93%31.60%5.65%
Source: ECB, MNB.

Leading Card Issuers

OTP – While still regarded as the dominant issuer, OTP has not escaped recent difficult economic conditions in Hungary. Its total number of cards issued in Hungary, credit and debit combined, was 3,866,000 at end-2011, down from the peak of 4.05 million in 2006. As of 2021 OTP had an estimated 40% market share of the Hungarian card market.

OTP had not given any breakdown since it reported 3.57 million debit cards and 315,000 credit cards in the retail division at end-2008, with the credit card figure up 14.7% in 2007. OTP said at the time that two-thirds of the credit card base consisted of American Express Blue cards, while 6,400 were American Express gold cards. OTP Bank continued to issue American Express cards until 2017.

Previous OTP card products included a Vodafone co-branded credit card, the OTP-BOM affinity credit card (Budapest Olympic Movement), OTP-KGE and OTP-BKF Junior Max affinity debit card, which were college cards, the SMI Mastercard un-embossed credit card and the SMI Mastercard un-embossed debit card.

In June 2017, OTP Bank launched its mobile HCE NFC payment solution for mobile in-store payments, which has been added to its mobile banking app, Simple. All cards are issued as contactless cards.

K&H Bank offers contactless VISA Classic and Gold debit cards. K&H’s credit cards are its VISA Classic and the Mastercard Classic and World credit cards, both of which offer up to 15 days’ interest-free credit. From 2014, K&H issued only contactless cards. K&H gave no subsequent update on card numbers.

UniCredit Bank Hungary (UBH) issues debit cards branded Debit Mastercard or VISA Debit and credit cards branded Mastercard or VISA. All cards are issued with added contactless PayPass function. The number of UniCredit POS terminals exceeded 7,000 in 2021, and during the year it also launched the UniCredit SoftPOS application, which allows small businesses to replace the physical POS terminals with their own mobile devices.

The cardless cash withdrawal service (mCash) continued to be available in the mobile app, allowing for cash withdrawals from any Hungarian UniCredit ATM without the use of a bank card. The number of customers using the Mobile Banking service at least once a month exceeded 132,000.

In 2021, UniCredit implemented the simplification and rationalisation of the debit bank card portfolio, discontinuing several cards, and VISA and Maestro cards were replaced with Mastercard cards.

Raiffeisen (RBH), issues Debit Mastercard cards, and credit cards branded Mastercard. All cards are issued as contactless cards. At the start of 2011, RBH was one of the first banks to introduce a contactless PayPass card under the name Mastercard Paypass Minikártya. In 2015, RBH’s volume of credit cards transactions grew by 68%, thanks to the OneCard Mastercard credit card. RBH provided no subsequent update on card numbers.

MBH Bank issues debit and credit cards branded Mastercard.

MKB reported 227,000 cards issued to private individuals in 2011, including Mastercard credit cards co-branded with Miles&More Lufthansa and T-Mobile respectively. The number of co-branded credit cards increased to 15,000 at end-2011. In 2016, MKB reported around 200,000 cards, but provided no subsequent update on card numbers.

In November 2019, MKB Bank announced the introduction of World Elite Mastercard credit card for the first time in Hungary, aimed at Hungarian premium clients.

Erste Bank Hungary (EBH) issues Mastercard and VISA debit cards and as well Mastercard and VISA credit cards. Further, EBH issues a virtual VISA card for internet use only and a co-branded SuperShop Mastercard card with contactless PayPass function. From 2012, EBH issues all cards with contactless PayPass or payWave function.

CIB Bank issues contactless debit cards and contactless credit cards branded Mastercard and VISA. It replaces expiring Electron cards with VISA Inspire cards. Further, CIB issues a virtual Mastercard card for internet use only. In 2012, CIB reported a total of 425,369 active cards in circulation but provided no subsequent update on card numbers.

Budapest Bank, state-owned since February 2015, issues Debit Mastercard and VISA debit cards and VISA and Mastercard credit cards. All new and renewed cards issued are contactless cards.

Citibank Europe Branch Hungary – had issued Maestro, Electron, Mastercard and VISA cards. It added contactless PayPass functions first to its co-branded Shell Mastercard card and then to its other cards. In September 2015, the bank sold its card business to Erste Bank Hungary.

Completing ten years of credit card operations in Hungary in May 2007, Citibank said it had then issued 230,000 credit cards out of the national total of 1.7 million and claimed above-average usage as well as the widest array of programmes on offer, including co-brands with T-Mobile, Shell and the national airline, Malev. As at September 2010, APRs on its Hungarian cards averaged around 45%, in line with other issuers.

An innovation in 2008 was launch of Citi’s Zero Fee Bank Account, claimed to be Hungary’s first free current account product. A free Citibank debit card was linked to the account, which allowed for unlimited domestic HUF transactions, including cash withdrawals and all bank transfer transactions through ATMs, branches, telephone and online channels.

Consumer Finance Credit Card Issuers

Most major international consumer finance companies are also present in the market. GE Money had operated in Hungary through Budapest Bank. Cofidis, the consumer credit business now owned by Crédit Mutuel, and Santander Consumer Finance also have a presence in Hungary. Auchan subsidiary Banque Accord launched an international Mastercard in Q4 2008.

Cetelem claims to have been a leader of the Hungarian credit card market, since 2004. It issues a range of cards co-branded with Mastercard and its proprietary Aura network. Additionally, Cetelem issues contactless Mastercard PayPass cards.

Credigen Bank – Crédit Agricole Consumer Finance (CACF) had operated in Hungary through its subsidiary Credigen. Credigen concluded an agreement with VISA Europe and First Data Slovakia, to manage its VISA credit cards. In 2010, Credigen terminated its activities in Hungary.

Digital & Card Payment Yearbooks