Christmas shoppers made 15.9 million payments using direct debit and credit cards las weekend, according to payment traffic company Betaalvereniging Nederland.

The busiest moment of the weekend was between 14.30 and 15.00 on Saturday when the organisation processed 457 transactions a second.

Direct debit payments were launched in the Netherlands in 1989 and Betaalvereniging Nederland expects the billionth payment to be made at some point on Monday.