Contactless spending rise continues

The UK Cards Association has released figures showing that spending on contactless cards has grown in the first half of 2016,and has already outstripped contactless spending for the whole of 2015.

£9.27 billion was spent using contactless methods between January and June of this year, this is more than the total 2015 contactless spend of £7.75 billion. There were 1.1 billion contactless transactions in the first half of the year, compared to 1.05 billion for the whole of 2015.

Contactless card payments accounted for 18% of total purchases in June, the latest monthly card expenditure statistics show. This is in contrast to the June 2015 figure of seven per cent. The average contactless transaction was £8.60 in both May and June of this year.

Richard Koch, Head of Policy at The UK Cards Association, said: “Contactless cards are firmly entrenched as the preferred way to pay for millions of consumers, who expect to be able to use them for everyday purchases. “We anticipate the use of contactless cards will continue to increase, particularly as charities and transport operators outside London recognise the benefits this technology can bring.”

The full report can be found here.