UK Set To Fall In Love With Mobile Payments

A week after the launch of Apple Pay in the UK, it seems that Brits are more in love with the idea of mobile payments technology than ever before.

A new MasterCard study has found that UK shoppers are ready to cast aside their reservations and embrace mobile payments with open arms.

Overall, one in four British consumers said that they expected to make a contactless payment with their mobile in the next year as more and more of us use our device to pay for goods and services.

Hesitant

However, many Brits do still hold some reservations about the technology.

Nearly a third of those surveyed said that they weren’t ready to link payments made by their phone directly to their bank account, and instead expect to assign them to a credit card account, although many of the these said “added consumer protection” was the main reason for using a credit card.

Security is also proving to be a minor barrier to adoption, the survey found, as seven out of ten people worry that if they lost their phone someone could use it to buy things with their money. Over half also feared that their phone could be hacked and money stolen, and four in ten plan to wait to for others to confirm that mobile contactless payments are safe before they try it themselves.

“Mobile payments are still in their infancy, so of course it’s natural for consumers to be hesitant,” said Huw Davies, head of emerging payments, MasterCard UK & Ireland.

“That’s why we have built the secure foundations for these payments across our network. Should a phone fall into the wrong hands, it’s of no use for making payments and customers can also be reassured that none of their card or banking details are stored on their device.”

MasterCard has understandably been very supportive of mobile payments technology, and last month revealed its plans to ensure contactless payments become the most acceptable form of commerce in the UK, predicting every shop in the UK will be able to accept contactless by 2020.

A large part of this will be down to consumer support for Apple Pay, which launched last week at more than 250,000 locations across the UK.

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