Barclaycard, which sees nearly half of the nation’s credit and debit card transactions, will be rolling out the deployment of the new £45 contactless limit across UK retailers from 1 April 2020.
The payments provider, which provides the technology to power over 150,000 terminals across the UK retail sector, is supporting the increased threshold to help prevent the spread of Coronavirus.
Adjusting the contactless limit from £30 to £45 will allow more customers to make payments without touching card terminals or handling cash.
Deployment will be prioritised for retailers in key sectors, including grocery & supermarket stores, bakeries, pharmacies and petrol service stations. Barclaycard will be supporting the deployment of the higher contactless limit to other merchants in due course.
Barclaycard has a long history of payments innovation in the UK, launching the UK’s first contactless payments card in 2007 and leading the roll out of ‘touch and go’ payments across the Transport for London Network.
Rob Cameron, CEO of Barclaycard Payments said: “It’s more important than ever for merchants and their customers to be mindful of their collective health and safety. We are proud to be taking a leadership position in the UK by commencing the deployment of a higher contactless threshold.
“By supporting the ability of customers to spend up to £45 via contactless, we are playing a part in helping UK consumers to pay safely and securely in these challenging times”.
Paying with contactless also saves an average of 7 seconds per transaction compared to Chip and PIN and 15 seconds when compared to cash.