Brits selected for mobile phone payment because cash usage declines

mobile Contactless payment Now regularly used by half of all UK adults, a new report shows, as cash transactions have all fallen to less than 10 percent of the transactions. Payment For the first time.

Statistics from UK Finance The show Cash included only 9 percent of payments in 2024, a decline of 23 percent in 2019 and a decade in 2014 by about half (48 percent).

Banking And finance The industry body highlighted the increasing dependence on phones, watches and other mobile devices to manage and shop for finance.

Last year, 57 percent of adults were registered for mobile wallets, there was a significant increase in 2023 from 42 percent.

The UK Payment Markets 2025 report states, “In terms of total population, 50 percent were using mobile contactless payments at least once a month in 2024.”

“This is the first time that regular mobile payment users reached half of the adult population in the UK.”

While young demographics are leading this digital shift, the report also mentions adequate adoption among groups in the older group.

It said: “Most of the new technological innovations, UK finance Market research found that young people are more likely to use mobile payment services than older people. Apple pay Or Google Salary.

“We hope that, in the next decade, groups of older groups will start catching with young colleagues in terms of adopting mobile payment, a pattern that is regularly seen after the introduction of new payment services and technologies.

“This pattern was seen with contactless card payment and we are also likely to look at it with mobile payment.”

The total number of payment made in the UK last year was 48.6 billion, compared to 2023.

Consumers Last year, 84 percent were responsible for the payments, while the businesses, government and not-for-profit organizations had 16 percent accounting-including salaries, pension and profit payments and payments between organizations.

UK Finance Said that, in the same way how contactless payments have changed some low-value payment in physical cash, contactless mobile payments appear to replace the contactless payment introduced using a physical card.

About one third of the UK adults were living “largely cashless life” in 2024, the report states.

Around 16.9 million adults used cash once a month, while 1.2 million mainly cash, UK finance Said.

How often are we using our smartphone for payment

According to UK Finance, the ratio of each age group registered to use mobile payments in 2024 is given here:

About fifth (19 percent) 65-plas ages in the age of 65-plas, compared to 40 percent of children aged 16 to 24 years, rarely cash (once a month or less often use).

The report states that while age is the “most accurate prophet” of cash use, data suggests that people with high income rarely are likely to use cash compared to low -income people.

It states: “In those who had an annual income of £ 65,000 or more, 46 percent rarely used cash in 2024, while in those who earn £ 20,000 or less in a year, rare cash users were 22 percent.

“There is also a gender difference in cash use because women (33 percent) are more likely to be rare cash users than men (26 percent).”

Back in 2023, 1.5 million people mainly used cash for their everyday expenses, as their budget was finely balanced during the cost-living squeeze in homes.

The report states: “Cash, which was the second most commonly used payment method in the UK by 2023, has now come down from direct debit, rapid payment and credit card levels.”

Last year, physical and mobile cards were the most used methods to pay in the UK, leading to 64 percent transactions.

About 62 percent of debit card payment and 55 percent credit and charge card payment were contactless.

The report states that now pay later (BNPL) services, which allow shopkeepers to divide the payment, saw a significant increase last year, with one of the four (25 percent) Britain adults used.

Fashion led the route, leading to an average of 46 percent of the BNPL transaction, spending an average of £ 114.

For example, mobile banking through a banking app became the most common way to reach accounts in 2024, which is used by 75 percent of the UK adults. This first defeated desktop banking, said UK Finance.

UK Finance said that while moving from 2034, the most popular way to pay the card is, accounting for about 67 percent payment, UK Finance said.

The use of mobile wallets is expected to increase, with more people, including the older age group, registering and using them more often for daily payment.

Britain’s finance stated that new services such as “by payment bank”, which allows people to pay money directly from their current accounts, such as using other methods such as cards, said the UK Finance.

Meanwhile, “traditional” payments such as cash and check in cash and checks are expected to decline further, a 4 percent fall of payment from 9 percent to 2034 last year with cash and checks only 0.1 percent (from 0.2 percent).

The decline rate in cash usage has slowed down as the use focuses among people who have a strong preference for cash and in situations where cash is advantage to other payment methods, the report states.

In the next 10 years, the decline in cash usage is expected to be less faster than the previous decade.

The report stated: “Instead of becoming a cash-free society of Britain in the next decade, the UK will infection in an economy where cash is less important than once, but is widely valuable, and is still preferred by something.”

Adrian Bakal, the head of research at UK Finance, said: “2024 was a year ago, all pointed to the growing change towards digital payments – more than half of the UK adults used mobile wallets, people use their accounts as overtook desktops, mainly as overtukta desktops, and cash fell below 10 percent of the payment.

“These changes were not just by small ConsumerWe saw an increase in mobile wallets and now paid in older age groups, also said how more mainstreams are being made across the digital payment boards.

,Action To improve competition from regulators, with the purpose of promoting a new era of innovation in payment, with the purpose of promoting a new era of innovation in payment, is helping to create conditions for further changes in the front. ,

Adrian Roberts, Deputy Chief Executive Officer in cash access and ATM network AddSaid: “Today’s report supplements recent research from link, which found that digital payments are default options in society, not only youth.

“While the number of people who trust cash continue to fall, we know that people who are often on low income or are more weak. We should not only sleep in digital-keval society before we are ready for everyone.

“There is also a question of flexibility for only a digital-paying system. What happens in terms of comprehensive power outage? The digital payment system should be strong and more flexible, and led the work Bank of England Vision on national payment is an excellent step in that direction. ,

Cash Access UK CEO Gareth Okle said: “We have clearly displayed the success of the established banking hub to cash and in-tradition banking services so far-our banking hub has an average of 150 customer transactions every day.

“And by the end of this year, we hope to support a million customer transactions every month through the hub and our comprehensive cash services.”