Report: cash on the decline in UK
15 April, 2010
category: Contactless, Financial, NFC
A new report from UK’s Payments Council has revealed that cash payments in the UK are in sharp decline.
The Council found that between 1999 and 2009 cash payments have fallen from 73% to 59%, while debit cards and contactless cards are on the rise.
Some 80 million debit cards were issued in the UK last year, accounting for £264 billion in sales – quadruple the value of 1999’s figures.
The report, titled “The Way We Pay 2010,” also revealed slipping credit card usage and an even steeper drop in personal checks.
The future, the council says, is with contactless cards, of which there are already eight million in use in the UK.
The report states that 30 million of the cards, which allow people to pay for goods worth up to £15 without having to enter a PIN number, are expected to be issued by 2012.
The Council goes on to predict that by 2050, contactless payment via mobile phone could become norm.
Read more here.