Barclaycard reports 164% increase in contactless transactions for 2015

The value of payments made using a Barclaycard contactless card increased by 164% in 2015 compared to the year before, the UK card issuer has revealed, while the average transaction value increased by 26% to £8.65 (US$12.40).

Barclaycard appMore than a quarter of Barclaycard customers (27%) are now making contactless payments each month, with London leading the way for contactless usage with more than four in ten (41%) transactions of £20 and under being made using contactless technology.

Cambridge comes in second place when it comes to contactless usage with 26%, followed by Northampton (24%), Bristol (23%), Southampton (23%), Oxford (23%), Leeds (22%), Birmingham (21%), Liverpool (20%) and Cardiff (20%).

The findings come as The UK Cards Association reveals that contactless payments hit a record £1.02bn (US$1.45bn) in a single month for the first time in November 2015.

“Every second counts for today’s busy shopper and as our data shows, touch and go payments are now the norm for an increasing number of everyday purchases,” says Tami Hargreaves, commercial director of digital consumer payments at Barclaycard.

“Whether it’s grabbing a coffee on the way to work or stocking up on groceries on the way home, the speed and ease of contactless means it’s now the preferred way to pay for shoppers across the country. We expect contactless payments to continue to break new records throughout 2016.”

Barclaycard began rolling out a host card emulation (HCE) based payment feature to its mobile app last week to allow customers to make transactions up to £30 (US$43) with a touch of their device at any contactless terminal. Users can also make high-value contactless payments of up to £100 (US$143) by entering their PIN on their device.

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