Is Britain ready to go cashless?

The rise of digital banking over the past decade has fuelled a lifestyle revolution. The emergence of chip and pin, contactless cards, digital wallets, online banking and mobile apps have made life more convenient for many. However, this digital transformation has also driven major changes to our cash infrastructure. Bank branches have closed at an... Continue Reading →

Digital generosity

We are pleased to feature a guest blog from Card Industry Professionals and focus on digital generosity by taking a look at the shift to online and contactless donations Card Industry Professionals are trusted providers of Card Payment facilities for UK based businesses. With a number of unique benefits, including No PCI Compliance Fees, No Authorisation Fees,... Continue Reading →

Contactless cumulative limits

We are pleased to feature a guest blog from Timur Yunusov at Payment Village - Timur unpacks the topic of contactless cumulative limits and how they work. If you live in the UK, you might have noticed changes in how you pay with your contactless card in the last few years. It was fairly obvious back in... Continue Reading →

Contactless transactions surge in the UK

Contactless Payments in the UK Barclaycard have reported that contactless transactions surged in the UK during 2021. Data: Barclaycard & Graphic: Northey Point Taking friction out of purchases The increase to the £100 payment limit has been a great opportunity to take friction out of the purchase experience. This is especially the case in busy... Continue Reading →

Integrated Payment Systems – finding the right digital solution

A guest blog by: Card Industry Professionals. In a recent blog, Integrated Payment Systems, digital solutions where size no longer matters, we discussed the benefits of joined up systems for companies of all sizes. In this blog we consider why businesses simply stop at a standalone card accepting system when there are many other options available. Integrating systems yields many more benefits –... Continue Reading →

Contactless control

Lloyds Banking Group customers will be able to set their own limits when the new £100 ceiling on contactless card payments comes into effect in October. The upcoming hike in the contactless spending limit on consumer debit cards has raised fears that they could become a target for fraudsters, who can escape unchecked for at least... Continue Reading →

Swiping left on magnetic stripes

Vicki Hyman at Mastercard has been writing about the end of the magnetic stripe on our debit and credit cards: In the early age of modern credit cards, they had to write down account information for each card-carrying customer by hand. Later, they used flatbed imprinting machines to record the card information on carbon paper... Continue Reading →

A couple of quid on a debit card versus a couple of coppers in a bucket?

East Anglia's Children's Hospices (EACH) offer care and support for children and young people with life-threatening conditions and support families across Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk. They offer families flexibility and control over where they receive their care and support, including where their child dies; at home, in hospital or at one of three hospices... Continue Reading →

Europe embraces contactless commerce

Visa report one billion additional touch-free Visa payments made as consumers embrace contactless commerce. Visa report that: Less than a year since contactless limits increased across Europe, Visa has hit one billion additional touch-free transactions, 400 million of which took place in the UK. Consumers and merchants are increasingly turning to contactless payments as a secure... Continue Reading →

Connecting the Falkland Islands

The Falkland Islands are among the most remote places on earth: an untamed expanse of boundless landscapes and wild ocean, where penguins outnumber people one hundred to one. But they’re also a place of inspiring and resilient local businesses, run by enterprising locals. And now, the Falkland Islanders are running and growing their businesses with... Continue Reading →

Amazon Fresh – Is it AppEaling?

Amazon has opened its first “just walk out” grocery store in the UK where shoppers can pick up their goods and leave without having to visit a till. The Amazon Fresh store in Ealing, west London, is a “contactless” shop available to anyone signed up to Amazon and with the app on their phone. Checking out... Continue Reading →

Contactless payment limit to rise

With contactless payments accounting for 37 per cent of all credit card and 59 per cent of all debit card transactions it is perhaps, no wonder, that the Chancellor has announced an increase in the UK's contactless payments limit. In his speech the Chancellor announced that the single contactless transaction payment threshold limit will rise... Continue Reading →

Chip & PIN? Remember that?

Roses are yoursViolets are mineIn Blighty we PINThe Yanks still sign On this anniversary weekend the folks at Consult Hyperion are getting all romantic. On this anniversary weekend Consult Hyperion recall that their romance with smart cards started many years ago. Dave Birch recalls that it will be fifteen years on Sunday that chip and PIN... Continue Reading →

Global Perspective: Card Over Cash?

Statista report that most South Koreans wouldn’t trade their cashless payments for anything. In Japan, Spain and France between 60 and 67 percent of people prefer cashless payments and the least people were in favour of cashless payments were in the Philippines at 33 percent. The share of respondents who said they preferred to pay without... Continue Reading →

Trilo powers POS payment with Open Banking

On Friday Trilo powered their first POS/in-person payment with Open Banking. Until then customers could only pay in shops via card or cash, now this has changed. Trilo gives merchants and customers the ability to make and receive payments with no hardware or software required. Merchants can use their tablet or phone to create a payment. The customer then... Continue Reading →

Road to a cashless society: the Italian journey and the recent government measures.

Evolving consumer preferences and digital transformation are boosting European cashless transactions. The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated this trend, exploiting a need for safer and more convenient payment methods both for remote and physical transactions. However, cash remains the preferred means for payments in Italy. A guest blog by Marco Folcia, Sara Marcozzi, Tommaso Gheduzzi and... Continue Reading →

Alexa, pay for gas

Car drivers in the US can now use Amazon's Alexa to pay for fuel with a simple voice command. Available at over 11,500 Exxon and Mobil stations across the US, the “Alexa, pay for gas” command uses the default payment option set in the user Amazon account. The process - which includes geo-location at Exxon... Continue Reading →

Spot the difference

Use the slider to spot the difference at the Kettledrum Cafe in Rothesay on the Isle of Bute Can you spot the difference? Back in February I made a confession - I paid cash for a beaut Bute meat pie. I am sure I could have purchased a cashless sandwich from the COOP but when... Continue Reading →

Is the post COVID-19 world a cashless one?

This article first appeared in the Payments, Payments, Payments newsletter - read, subscribe and share: northeypoint.substack.com/welcome The start of lockdown in March 2020 saw the use of cash in the UK halve in a matter of days. Has this begun a move towards becoming a cashless society? What are the benefits, opportunities, and concerns of... Continue Reading →

Tipping – the final cashless frontier

As a cashless advocate tipping is the final frontier for me - whilst I find that most places provide digital tipping options my favourite restaurant and my barber both have stuck to cash only tips for their staff. After reading about thankU in the Daily Telegraph and The Times I invited thankU creator Adrian Harris... Continue Reading →

Europe’s leading cashless economies

A new study has highlighted Europe’s leading cashless economies. Retail Times report that a new study by Merchant Machine has analysed Europe’s leading cashless economies. The study highlights the countries where citizens would like to go completely cashless the most and who uses contactless payments the most. COVID19 changes everything Given the study was pre-lockdown... Continue Reading →

The future of cash post COVID-19

Moving the "UK Fintech Week 2020" to an online format was a smart move - especially as it meant that I could join the excellent 'The Future of Cash Post COVID-19" webinar moderated by Natalie Ceeney and supported by Graham Mott and John Howells from LINK (the operator of the UK's ATM network) - all... Continue Reading →

Cashless and contactless for COVID19

Cash usage dropped by half over the last week, it is vital that digital payment options are accessible, inclusive and equitable for all in society. The planned increase of the contactless limit from 1 April is an excellent first step. However, don’t forget that with digital wallets like ApplePay payments are not constrained by a... Continue Reading →

Another tumble for cash withdrawals

Today (9 March 2020) LINK, the company that operates the UK’s ATM network, released the weekly statistics for ATM based cash withdrawals. When comparing week ending 8 March with the equivalent week in 2019, LINKS own data shows that there were 6,300,000 fewer ATM withdrawals during the 7 day period. Over six million fewer transactions... Continue Reading →

ATM cash withdrawals continue to decline

Today Link, the operator of the UK’s largest ATM network, published the number and value of ATM transactions across their network over the last week. Once again the figures continue to demonstrate that the UK is fast becoming a truly cashless society. Link’s figures show that cash withdrawals for last week are down roughly 10... Continue Reading →

Navigating the future of donations

A summary of ‘Navigating the future of donations’ breakfast briefing For the full article please visit: https://rapidataservices.com/direct-debit/rapidata-and-iof-breakfast-briefing-summary-navigating-the-future-of-donations/ A Rapidata and Institute of Fundraising event Last week Rapidata held a breakfast briefing with the Institute of Fundraising on the future of payments and donations in the not for profit sector, exploring the challenges and opportunities for... Continue Reading →

Cashless against Sale

Like many clubs and businesses Gloucester Rugby club are trialing cashless stadiums. Starting with this Friday’s match against Sale the club will be trialling payment by card only in a number of bars at the Kingsholm Stadium. As Gloucester's rugby club make this move, it was great to be on Steve Kitchen's BBC Radio Gloucester's... Continue Reading →

A confession

It is always good to be honest - so let me confess..... I paid in cash for two things today! If you follow me on social media you’ll know that from the top of Shetland’s North Isles to the beaches of Lanzarote and everywhere in between I have been successfully cashless for a very long... Continue Reading →

One Ring

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all.J.R.R Tolkien, The Lord Of The Rings The One Ring appears as the central plot element in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings (1954–55). It is also described in an earlier story, The Hobbit (1937), as... Continue Reading →

Cashless: “Just like that…boom”

“Just like that ... boom” cashless payment experience for a customer.Excellent piece by Paul Lewis on BBC Radio 4’s Money Box on Saturday about paying for the Big Issue using iZette. Sellers using Monzo providing inclusive and accessible banking.

Wallet-less and frictionless payments

Two weeks into my second cashless year - https://northeypoint.com/2019/08/24/dont-think-of-it-as-going-cashless-think-of-it-as-an-upgrade-to-the-21st-century/ - and having mastered being cashless I am now focussing on being 'wallet-less' and mastering 'frictionless' payments. A simple approach to being cashless My cashless approach is a Mastercard debit card from Starling Bank, a Visa credit card from Barclaycard all loaded into my Apple Pay... Continue Reading →

Be as cashless as you want to be

This week it was a pleasure to answer some questions from a MA journalism student from the University of Sheffield. The student is currently working on a project about the impact of society going cashless and was interested to hear more about your experience living completely cashless. Here is what I said: 1: When did... Continue Reading →

Three simple Cashless tips

What cashless tip would you recommend? That was the final question I asked Cashless advocates on Twitter last weekend. Don't just rely on carrying one card said one - or carry one card and use ApplePay on your phone with another card (maybe one Visa and one Mastercard?) Carry a contingency note in your phone... Continue Reading →

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