Strong growth recorded for contactless Visa cards

The number of Visa contactless payment cards being used in the UK looks set to soar to 12 million by the end of this year, it was announced this week.

Visa Europe said it had increased its estimate for the number of contactless debt, credit and pre-pay cards that would be in circulation by the end of December from 10 million. The revised estimate comes after the number of contactless cards being used in the UK broke through the eight-million barrier in June.

The group expects there to be a further strong increase during the second half of the year as more banks introduce them for their customers. It added that the number of transactions carried out with a contactless payment card had doubled during the past six months.

Contactless payment cards enable people to pay for items simply by holding their card against a reader, without having to enter their pin.

Visa increased the maximum value of an item that can be paid for in this way from £10 to £15 earlier this year, and the average value of a contactless transaction is £4.30.

Around 26,000 outlets across the UK accept contactless payments, including Subway, Pret A Manger, some Boots outlets, selected branches of Spar, Ikea and a number of independent convenience stores.