The UK Clears 3 Billion Contactless Transactions in One Year

Europe has experienced  a substantial breakthrough in contactless payments adoption with Visa announcing 3 billion contactless transactions were made over the past 12 months – three times more than just one year before. Data reveals that EU customers opted for contactless payments 360 million times in April alone, up 150% from 143 million transactions in April 2015. Visa further reports that across Europe, contactless sales account for one out of every five Visa-processed face-to-face sales – a staggering increase over the one-in-sixty for 2013.

Currently, Poland, Spain and the UK lead Europe in contactless payments adoption, with British use up 300% over the past 12 months. The average contactless transaction value rose 12% to €13.83, with the numbers showing a significant increase in everyday-buys, such as coffee shop purchases.

The rise of contactless as a preferred payments option is expected to increase as contactless-enabled POS terminals become ubiquitous across Europe. Today, more than 3,2 million terminals are in use, a 23% increase from 2015. Visa and its partners are working toward a goal of all European terminals accepting contactless by 2020.

Read more on Visa contactless here: https://www.visaeurope.com/receiving-payments/contactless