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Significant rise in number of contactless card payments

Significant rise in number of contactless card payments

Contactless card payments reached a record high of £1.5 billion during March, according to new data from the UK Cards Association. This high comes a mere four months after contactless spending reached £1 billion in November 2015.

Contactless payments now account for one in seven of all card transactions, compared to one in 16 a year ago.

The data also revealed that monthly contactless spending has more than trebled over the past year. Currently, 86.5 million contactless cards are in circulation in the UK.

Overall, total payment card spending amounted to £51.9 billion during March, with transactions totalling 1.18 billion.

Richard Koch, Head of Policy at the UK Cards Association, stated: ‘The dramatic rise shows that paying with contactless is now second nature for millions of consumers who see it as an alternative to cash.

'Contactless cards are already being used to pay for travel and to donate to charity and as the technology evolves, we will see even more environments where contactless will enable fast, easy and secure payments.'