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Over one million UK contactless smart card payments made in 2011
4 Nov 2010

Over one million contactless smart card payments have been made in the UK this year, according to new research.

Barclays and Barclaycard have found that there has been a 217 per cent rise in monthly contactless payments since the turn of the year, with over 150,000 processed in September alone.

There are currently 42,500 contactless payment terminals installed in British stores, with major retailers such as Co-operative, Eat and Pret A Manger all offering the technology.

"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," said Dan Wass, current accounts director at Barclays.

"Contactless offers a real alternative for traditional cash transactions, helping to reduce queues and ending consumers' search for the correct change."

Around ten million Barclays customers currently have a contactless-enabled bank card, with the firm expected that figure to rise to 12 million by the end of the year.