UK Sees Surge In Contactless Spending

According to data from MasterCard and Barclaycard, contactless spending in the U.K. experienced a massive boost over the past 12 months, Forbes reported yesterday (Aug. 27).

U.K. spending data from MasterCard showed the number of British consumers making payments on contactless cards jumped more than fivefold over the last year.

Barclaycard’s data found a similar upward tick in contactless card behavior.

Forbes reported the global payment business processes almost half of all debit and credit card transactions within the U.K., and Barclaycard saw a 150 percent upsurge in the number of consumers who made purchases with contactless payments. The number of those transactions taking place over the last 12 months also soared 134 percent.

The adoption of contactless payments by British consumers is consistently accelerating, with cardholders driving a 560 percent jump in year-on-year transaction value, a significant increase from the 373 percent rise in the year to July 2014, MasterCard told Forbes.

The figures from both MasterCard and Barclaycard should really come as no surprise, considering the demand for contactless payments among U.K. consumers is high.

According to new research from Lloyds Bank Cardnet, many U.K. consumers are looking for more from retailers, especially when it comes to offering contactless payment options.

Just under half of the consumers surveyed (47 percent) said they expect, or would prefer, businesses to make contactless payments available for low-value transactions, Finextra reported last month. Roughly 12 percent of respondents said there are not enough retailers even offering contactless payments, while almost 9 percent said the spending limit at the time, £20 (about $31), was too low.

The research showed that of those who do own contactless cards, 25 percent said the speed of transaction is what they enjoy the most about the payment option, while 24 percent preferred the ease of transaction.

With the rollout of an increased spending limit for mobile contactless payments expected to happen across the U.K. starting Sept. 1, MasterCard said it expects to see additional growth in the rate of its cardholders using contactless payments.

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