Two of the largest payment players in the UK announced a massive increase in consumer contactless use. According to credit card issuer Barclaycard, contactless card use has increased three-fold with spending amongst its users increasing by 150% in value and 134% in volume year over year. Payment network, MasterCard reported even more impressive figures with 560% year-on-year growth on consumer contactless spending.
Commenting on the results, Mark Barnett, president of MasterCard UK & Ireland said,
“The pace of growth we are seeing in contactless is getting ever faster as we rely less and less on cash. “Consumers enjoy the speed and convenience of tapping to pay. We expect this upward trend to persist with consumers continuing to migrate to contactless card payments and increasingly to mobile payments, as we work with partners such as Apple to enable more convenient ways to pay.”
With the UK contactless limit set to be raised to £30 ($46.5) in September, contactless use is likely to continue its upward growth trajectory. Furthermore when one factors in that contactless cards and enabled terminals remain in the minority of all cards and terminals available in the UK, contactless payments have ample room to grow in the years ahead.
Overview by Tristan Hugo-Webb, Associate Director, Global Payments Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
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