According to the BIS, a credit transfer is a payment order made for the purpose of placing funds at the disposal of the beneficiary, with the payment instructions and funds moving from the bank of the payer/originator to the bank of the beneficiary, possibly via several other banks as intermediaries and/or more than one credit transfer system. A credit transfer system is a funds transfer system through which payment orders move from the originator’s bank to the receiver's (beneficiary's) bank. The use of credit transfers as a payment instrument in major markets increased steadily between 2004 and 2009, with a decline seen in some markets in 2007 at the height of the global financial crisis. They account for the majority of payment volumes by non-banks (see Payments Volumes Worldwide) in most markets.For example, in 2009 credit transfers accounted for more than 90% of total payment volumes in Belgium, Mexico, The Netherlands, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. By number of transactions, although most major markets covered by the BIS data saw a decline – or at least no increase - in this figure in 2007, by 2008 all countries except Germany had seen the number of credit transfers surpass their pre-crisis levels. However Germany, which had not returned to 2006 levels by year-end 2008 in terms of number of transactions, did see a marked increase in total value of transactions between 2006 and 2007 – going from $39.8 billion in 2006 to $88.3 billion in 2007. This jump, however, can be attributed to a change in reporting methodology for Germany in 2007. Notes a spokesperson for the BIS: “Cross-border transactions and book-entry transactions are included after 2007, but not included before.” Between 2008 and 2009, the only country to see a decline in the number of credit transfer transactions was Russia, which went from 2.08 billion transactions conducted via credit transfer in 2008 to 2.04 billion in 2009. Data is from the Bank for International Settlements' Committee on Payments and Settlement Systems (CPSS) Annual Payments Statistics, March 2011. Click on the column heading to sort the table. Use of Credit Transfers by Non-Banks (number of transactions (millions, total for the year)) * Different methodology and data collection method since reporting year 2007. **Sum or average excluding those countries for which data are not available. Since the value of these transactions is relatively large, cross-country comparison should be treated with caution; consequently, CPSS figures related to credit transfers have not been calculated.
Use of Credit Transfers by Non-Banks (total value of transactions (US$ billions, total for the year)) * Different methodology and data collection method since reporting year 2007.
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