UK debit cards overtake cash for first time: study

Cash is no longer king in Britain - and has been usurped by debit cards, thanks to rapid changes in technology and consumer behaviour, new research showed Monday. Debit card payments overtook cash last year for the first time, as more and more Britons embraced contactless transactions, online shopping and payment by smartphone, trade association UK Finance revealed in a study.
"Evolving consumer habits, increasing access to card payments and new technology are providing consumers with more choice," UK Finance concluded. Consumers made a total of 13.2 billion debit card transactions in 2017, beating the 13.1 billion payments that were made in cash, UK Finance said. Almost two thirds of Britons now use contactless, according to the organisation which represents 300 top firms in finance, banking and payment-related services. The total number of contactless transactions meanwhile doubled in one year to reach 5.6 billion on both credit and debit cards, as more businesses accepted the method that does not require a PIN number.