Barclaycard bPay Loop Brings Contactless Payments To Watches And Fitness Bands

Barclaycard is looking to increase the popularity of its bPay digital wallet with the introduction of an accessory allows any fitness band or watch with an opening buckle to make contactless payments.

The bPay loop is the fourth product in the range, following on from the wristband, fob and sticker, but is the first to add payment features to an existing device. It costs £19.99 and launch partners include Swiss watch maker Mondaine and fitness accessory manufacturer Garmin.

bPay loop

The bank started trials of bPay back in 2012 and made it commercially available in 2015. Like other digital wallets, users can make payments of up to £30 and so far 100,000 bPay products have been sold and one million transactions made.

“Following the success of the initial range, and in response to consumer demand, Loop has been designed to allow payments functionality to be added to items that people already wear on their wrist,” said Tami Hargreaves, Commercial Director, Digital Consumer Payments at Barclaycard.

“Thanks to the huge growth we are seeing in contactless payments, we are increasingly becoming accustomed to being able to make low-value payments throughout the day, in a quick, easy, convenient way. Loop makes that easier than ever.”

Barclays’ mobile payments strategy has differed from that of other major banks. It was one of the last to support Apple Pay, only doing so in April. It also has no plans to support Android Pay and instead offers customers contactless payments using its own application.

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