The rapid rise in contactless payments in the UK means that the UK is shifting towards a ‘cashless society’, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

According to GlobalData’s 2018 Consumer Payments Insight Survey, 62% of the 4,000 respondents surveyed in the UK have a contactless card and use it for contactless payments. This has led to a reduction of 37% in the total amount of cash spent in the UK from 2012 to 2017, and GlobalData expects cash use to decline a further 35% by 2022.

Bhavika Shah, Banking Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Most businesses in the UK are already on board with the contactless revolution, but given the swift decline in cash use in the UK, small businesses and charities should embrace contactless technology across the board, or face a sharp decline in funding from an increasingly cashless population.”