News

Barclay’s UK cardholders shift to contactless payments

November 9, 2010

In a sign of the growing popularity of RFID payments outside the U.S., Barclaycard and Barclays announced that its cardholders in the U.K. have conducted over one million contactless card transactions so far in 2010. Since January there has been a 217% rise in monthly contactless transactions, with over 150,000 processed in September alone, Barclays reported.

The bank said that there are now more than 42,500 payment terminals deployed in the U.K. that can read account information from a consumer’s payment card equipped with a radio frequency device. In January there were about 25,000 point-of-sale terminals capable of accepting a contactless payment, Barclays reported.

To complete a transaction the consumer must wave his card near the POS device, typically a faster and easier process than handing the card to a clerk to be swiped through the device.

Consumer acceptance of RFID payments, and the POS infrastructure necessary to support the payments, could be a first step towards mobile payments, where consumers pay using their smart phone. Consumers in Korea and Japan have adopted mobile phone payments.

Barclays says that it has 10 million customers in the U.K. with contactless cards. The bank’s contactless program is designed for purchases of 15 pounds (about $24) or less.

"The range of retailers offering contactless payments has grown significantly, from supermarkets, to restaurants to coffee shops all offering contactless as a quicker and easier option for their customers. Contactless offers a real alternative for traditional cash transactions, helping to reduce queues and ending consumers' search for the correct change,” Dan Wass, currents accounts director at Barclays, said in a press release.

Barclays cited a study that found contactless payment systems can reduce transaction times by over a third in comparison to cash, with the average transaction taking just 12.5 seconds.
 
Barclays operates in over 50 countries and serves 48 million customers and clients worldwide.