Brits opt for mobile phone payments as cash usage declines
Mobile contactless payments are now used regularly by half of all UK adults, a new report is for the first time because cash transactions fall to less than 10 percent of all payments.
The UK Finance Show Cash is only 9 percent of payments in 2024, decreasing about half (48 percent) in 2019 and ten years ago in 2014.
The Banking and Finance Industry organ emphasized an increasing confidence in phones, watches and other mobile devices to manage and purchase financing.
Last year, 57 percent of adults were recorded in mobile wallets, which was a significant increase from 42 percent in 2023.
The UK Payment Markets 2025 report, “50 percent in terms of total population in 2024 at least once a month using mobile contactless payments.”
“Regular mobile payment users have first reached half of the adult population in the UK.”
While the younger demography pioneered this digital shift, the report was significantly adopted among the older age groups.
“Similar to most new technological innovations, the UK Financial Market Research found that young people were more likely to use mobile payment services such as Apple Share or Google Pay.
“In the next decade, we hope that older age groups will begin to capture younger cohorts in terms of adopting mobile payments, which is a regular model after the introduction of new payment services and technologies.
ADVERTISING
ADVERTISING
“This model has been observed with contactless card payments and we will see it with mobile payments.”
The total number of payments made in the UK last year increased by 1.5 percent compared to 2023, 48.6 billion.
Consumers are responsible for 84 percent of the payments made last year, while enterprises, government and non -profit organizations are 16 percent, including salaries, pension and benefit payments and payments between organizations.
The UK financing, similar to how contactless payments change some low -valuable payments in physical cash, said that contactless mobile payments replaced the contactless payments initiated using a physical card.
In the report, about one -third of the UK (30 percent), the UK lived in 2024 in 2024.
British Finans, approximately 16.9 million adults last year last year, one or less one or less cash uses, 1.2 million use of cash, he said.
How often do we use our smartphones for payments
According to the UK finance, the rates of every age group registered to use mobile payments in 2024:
- 16 to 24, 88 percent
- 25 to 34, 78 percent
- 35 to 44, 65 percent
- 45 to 54, 58 percent
- 55 to 64, 47 percent
- 65 plus, 25 percent
Approximately one -fifth (19 percent) people aged 65 years (19 percent) rarely (using one or less frequency per month), compared to 40 percent of 16 to 24 years old.
The report shows that although the age is “the most accurate cash usage forester, it is rarely higher than low -income people.
“The share of rare cash users rarely used cash among those with an annual income of £ 65,000 or more, 46 percent rarely used cash in 2024, while the share of rare cash users among those who earn £ 20,000 or less per year was 22 percent.
“Since women (33 percent) are more likely to be a rare cash user, there is a gender gap in the use of cash because they are more than men (26 percent).”
In 2023, 1.5 million people used cash to a large extent for daily expenditures, because households finely balanced their budgets during the cost of life.
In the report, he said: “Until 2023, the second most used payment method in England, cash, now direct debt, faster payments and credit cards has fallen under.”
Physical and mobile cards were the most used roads in the UK last year and 64 percent of the transactions.
Approximately 62 percent of debit card payments and 55 percent of credit and fee card payments were contactless.
In the report, the payment (BNPL) services, which allowed shoppers to divide payments, received a significant growth with one of the British adults (25 percent), one of the British adults last year (25 percent), compared to the previous year (25 percent).
Moda, with an average of £ 114 £ 46 percent of BNPL transactions.
Mobile banking, for example, through a banking application, was the most common way to access accounts in 2024, which was used by 75 percent of the UK adults. British Finance, desktop banking for the first time, he said.
According to the British finance, when we look at 2034, cards are expected to remain the most popular payment way, taking into account the payment of about 67 percent.
The use of mobile wallets is expected to record and use more frequently for daily payments, including larger age groups.
British Finance, instead of using other methods such as cards, such as direct accounts to a company that allows new services can be more common, he said.
In the meantime, “traditional” payment methods such as cash and checks are expected to decrease further, cash money is expected to fall to 4 percent of payments in 2034 last year and control only 0.1 percent (0.2 percent).
In the report, the rate of decrease in cash usage slowed down among people with a strong choice for cash and in cases of intensified in cases where cash has advantages compared to other payment methods.
For the next 10 years, the decline in cash usage is expected to be less fast than in the last decade.
In the report, the report said: “Instead of becoming a cash -free society in the next decade, Britain will go to an economy in which England is less important than a time, but is widely valued and is still preferred by some.”
In the British finance, the President of the Research Adrian Buckle said: “2024 was a year of firsts, all of them pointed to increasing shifts for digital payments – more than half of the UK adults used mobile wallets, mobile banking, overturned the desktop as the main way of access to people’s accounts and fell below 10 percent of all payments.
“These changes were not only directed by young consumers. We have seen growth in mobile wallets and now we have paid in older age groups and emphasized how digital payments became more general throughout the board of directors.
“The action from the regulators to improve the competition helps to create conditions for more changes in the coming them,
Cash Access and ATM Network Link Deputy General Manager Adrian Roberts said: “Today’s report completes the latest research that determines that Link’s digital payments are not only young people, but also the assumed election throughout the society.
“While the number of people who trust in cash continues to fall, we know that those who do are often lower income or more vulnerable. We should not only sleep at a digital society before everyone is ready.
“There is only a problem of durability for the digital payment system. What will happen in case of a widespread power outage? Digital payment systems need to be more powerful and more flexible, and the studies led by the UK Bank in national payments are a perfect step in this direction.”
Gareth Oakley, General Manager of Cash Access UK, said: “The success of the banking centers we have established so far shows the need for access to cash and face-to-face banking services-There are an average of 150 customer transactions every day in our Banking centers.
“And at the end of this year, we expect to support one million customer transactions through HUBs and wider cash services every month.”
