Czechs still use cash most often for paying when abroad

Press release

6/25/2015
8:00 AM

Prague, 25 June 2015 – Almost 75% of Czechs still prefer cash for paying in foreign countries; in the up to 26 category, it is as much as 80%. They most often withdraw cash from their home bank. The euro predominates in withdrawals of foreign currencies.

According to an IPSOS survey for Komerční banka, cash is the most frequent method for paying outside the Czech Republic. Three quarters (73.8%) of the respondents prefer this method of payment. Only one quarter of Czechs prefer payment cards. In particular young people and people with elementary education (80%) prefer cash. The survey includes 1,050 respondents from all over the Czech Republic.

“The survey indicates that we are going back in time as regards paying outside the Czech Republic. On holidays, cash is more popular than payment cards for Czechs. The abolishment of fees for foreign currency withdrawals at counters of some banks may be the reason. Komerční banka took this step last year. For example, withdrawals of Croatian kuna have risen by 900% yoy in our bank,” said Jana Švábenská, Executive Director for Transaction and Payment Services at KB.

The place where citizens withdraw foreign currency cash most often is counters in their own banks. More than 62% of the respondents prefer their home bank. The second most frequent method is cash withdrawal from ATMs abroad (15.4%), followed by bureaux the change in the streets (11.9%), and only 2.6% of citizens withdraw foreign currencies at counters of third-party banks. With its share of 62%, the euro predominates in withdrawals.

Depositing and withdrawing foreign currencies in and from Czech crown-denominated accounts at Komerční banka is free of charge. Free deposits and withdrawals apply to all currencies in Komerční banka’s exchange rate list, including the popular Croatian kuna. For example, if clients who have Czech crown-denominated current accounts at Komerční banka withdraw cash in a foreign currency from their accounts, when they come back home from abroad with left-over banknotes in a foreign currency they can deposit them in their bank account at Komerční banka and the amount will be credited to their account in Czech crowns again completely free of charge.

The amount of foreign currencies in cash that were traded at KB last year during the Fee Holidays totalled more than CZK 460 million, which means an increase of almost three times compared with 2013.