Contactless payment cards explained Facts & figures

notes and coins

Mastercard's survey suggests that cash transactions will become less frequent in the future

In the UK 80% of the 27 billion cash transactions each year are for items totaling less than £10.

By the end of this year, five million contactless payment cards will have been issued by banks in the UK to replace existing credit and debit cards – these will be accepted by 100,000 retailers.

In a survey by Mastercard, 38% of people thought they would use cash less in five years’ time, while 16% said they often did not make everyday purchases such as newspapers, sweets or cigarettes because they did not have change or didn't want to pay with a note.

Globally 16 million PayPass cards have been issued for use at more than 56,000 merchants in 19 countries.

13 countries already use PayPass: Australia, Canada, Japan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Philippines, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and the USA.

Security concerns

In some cases the theft of a card could be worse than having cash stolen. Mastercard admits that a card could be used up to five times without a PIN being requested, giving the would-be fraudster the chance to get away with up to £50.

There are concerns about cards being ‘hacked’ while still in the user’s wallet.

There is also a concern that contactless payment cards could be potentially much more expensive for retailers to handle than cash.

Not really a concern for retailers, but something for consumers to watch out for is the observation that users spend more when they are not limited to coins or cash.

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