Nearly half of all UK payments are contactless

The UK is continuing to lead the way as a global leader in payments technology, according to new data from Mastercard.

The firm has revealed that almost half of all in-store card transactions made in the UK use contactless technology, making it the most widely-used form of electronic payment in Europe.

Overall, Mastercard found that contactless already represents 46 per cent of all transactions being made in the UK each month.

UK contactless payments

The research also revealed that the number of contactless transactions has increased 95 per cent over the past year, with the proliferation of the necessary hardware and software systems continuing to spread across the country.

Transport is one of the biggest areas of growth, with the likes of TfL seeing millions of contactless transactions every day,

This number is only set to grow, Mastercard notes, as by 2020 all payment terminals across Europe will need to be contactless-enabled.

“The UK is a global leader in its use of contactless. The technology has fast become synonymous with our everyday payments. It is faster and easier to use than cash and yet it affords more security. As such the adoption and trust in contactless can only increase from here,” said Mark Barnett, President of Mastercard in the UK.