Contactless card payments grew more than three-fold during 2013 due to accelerated rollout by retailers and growing acceptance on public transport, according to Visa Europe.Despite some initial concerns around the security of near field communication (NFC) enabled cards – with a small number of users complaining that they unwittingly had funds taken from their accounts – the technology is gathering pace among consumers. The latest figures from the payments provider show that 94.3 million purchases were made using its contactless cards last year, up from 25 million during 2012. There are now 32.1 million Visa contactless cards in circulation in the UK, up 125 percent from 2012, with the average spend totalling £6.09. In its recent financial results, Visa revealed that contactless transactions reached a total of £460 million during 2013.
