Monthly contactless spend passes 1.5 billion pounds

Monthly contactless spending in the UK has hit a record high of 1.508 billion pounds for the first time in March 2016, according to the latest figures from The UK Cards Association.

The milestone comes four months after the 1 billion barrier was broken in November 2015, and is a staggering increase from a year ago when figures hit 0.5 billion pounds in May 2015.

A year ago, one in every 16 card transactions was made using contactless, now the figure is one in seven. In March 2016, there was a total of 179.6 million contactless purchases, 67 made every second. On the UK high street, one in six card purchases are now contactless.

The UK Cards Association stated that monthly contactless spending has more than trebled in the past year, up from 431.1 million pounds in March 2015, adding that the UK has 86.5 million contactless cards in circulation.

Richard Koch, head of policy at The UK Cards Association, said: “It took almost eight years for monthly contactless spending to reach half a billion pounds - now it’s grown by the same amount in just four months. This dramatic rise shows that paying with contactless is now second nature for millions of consumers who see it as an alternative to cash.

“Contactless cards are already being used to pay for travel and to donate to charity and as the technology evolves, we will see even more environments where contactless will enable fast, easy and secure payments.”