Advertisement

Contactless payments overtake chip-and-pin

Contactless payments have become more popular than chip-and-pin card transactions for the first time in the UK, according to a major payment processing company.

Worldpay said it happened in June, when 51% of in-store card transactions were contactless, rising to 52% in July.

Analysis of the company's data showed that use of the newer payment method jumped by 30% between June 2017 and June 2018.

The popularity of contactless has increased as the upper limit on transactions has risen to £30 while the number of businesses accepting the payment method has grown.

Worldpay said fashion retailers in particular had seen a big shift from chip-and-pin to contactless.

There have also been big increases at betting shops and department stores.

Steve Newton, executive vice president at Worldpay, said: "The rise of contactless is part of a bigger story: it's not simply about tap and go - it's about convenience and reducing the parts of the shopping experience that customers find irritating, like queuing and waiting to pay."

Worldpay processes payments for a number of large and small businesses across the world and says it accounts for more than two-fifths of all UK card payments.