Overview

• Mobile wallet adoption reached 57% of adults in 2024, with half of the population using mobile contactless payments at least monthly for the first time.
• Britons made 48.6 billion payments last year, with cards accounting for 64% of transactions as mobile contactless increasingly replaces tap-to-pay with physical cards.
• Use of buy now, pay later rose to 25% of adults from 14% a year earlier, with the fastest growth among 55- to 64-year-olds and new FCA plans proposing affordability checks.
• Mobile banking became the primary way to access accounts, used by 75% of adults and overtaking desktop for the first time.
• Industry groups warn that lower-income and vulnerable people still rely on cash, banking hubs report about 150 in-person transactions daily, and cash is projected to drop to about 4% of payments by 2034.