Barclays sees rise in contactless payments

Bank raises limit for 'touch-and-go' transactions owing to increasing popularity

Barclays has issues milllions of contactless-enabled cards since 2007

Barclays has decided to raise the limit of contactless transactions from £10 to £15 owing to growing popularity of the payment technology.

Since the introduction of the payment technology in 2007, more than two million contactless-enabled Barclays debit cards and four million contactless Barclaycard credit cards have been issued.

Contactless technology allows bank account holders to pay for small value transactions by holding their enabled cards over a reader without the need to enter a PIN.

"Contactless technology is undoubtedly the future of payments and we are seeing huge growth in popularity. The new higher limit gives customers the flexibility of paying for even more transactions quickly, securely and conveniently and will lead to more retailers implementing the technology,” said head of debit cards at Barclays, Brian Cunnington.

Retailers including coffee shops Eat and Pret A Manger are among the early adopters of the technology.