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UK Finance publishes UK payment market report

UK Finance has published a report on trends in UK payment markets in 2021 and forecasts up to 2031. Unsurprisingly, the report looks at the effects of the pandemic on payments that fell and then recovered, and at the changes in the types of payments being used. The report asks whether the move to contactless payments, mobile wallet channels and online banking at the expense of cash payments is now permanent.

57% of people now use mobile banking, and 86% of UK adults use at least one form of remote banking, and this is predicted to rise to 93% by 2031.

The use of cash has fallen from 62% in 2006 to 15% in 2021, with 23.1m consumers using cash only once a month or not at all, yet there were 1.1m who mainly used cash, despite most of them having the ability to use other payment methods.

Use of cheques has also declined, from 1,678m in 2006 to just 150m in 2021. UK Finance expects this to decline to 70m (or just 0.2% of payments) by 2031.

In 2021, 57% of all payments in the UK were made using cards (48% debit cards), with 32% of all payments being contactless. 83% of payments by consumers were for spontaneous purchases.

The report also fond that one in 8 people used BNPL, and that it was particularly popular amongst 35-44 year olds.

Overall, the forecast is for increased use of debit card payments, a continuing decline in use of cash (to only 6% in 2031), and ongoing growth in Faster Payments and other remote banking.

Emma Radmore