Barclays reaches contactless milestone
(14 December 2009 – UK) Barclays and Barclaycard have announced that the bank has reached a new technology milestone and has now issued over 5 million contactless enabled cards in the UK.
Barclaycard launched its first contactless card in the UK in 2007, One Pulse, in an effort to be a pioneer in contactless technology.
The announcement of the card volumes coincides with two of Britain’s retailers, Caffe Nero and Pret A Manger, finishing the roll out of the merchant technology across their nationwide stores.
This brings the total number of retailers accepting the cards through Barclaycard to 20,000.
Caffe Nero, the largest independent coffee retailer in the UK, signed up and has completed its roll out of the technology across all of its 380 stores.
The coffee retailer originally trialled the integrated EpoS contactless system in several of its outlets in central London in December, 2008.
Pret A Manger, the high street food chain, started accepting contactless payments in November 2008 and has now completed the implementation of the technology at all of its 199 stores in the UK.
Amer Sajed, chief executive, Barclaycard UK, Business and International said that five million contactless payment cards issued is a significant milestone on the journey of how people will pay for goods and services in the future.
Together with Barclays, Barclaycard continues to rollout contactless technology across the group’s card portfolio as it is believed to be the future of payments, Mr Sajed added.
Consumer feedback highlights the increasing demand for contactless payment and Barclaycard expects to see more retailers follow Caffe Nero and Pret A Manger and sign up to contactless technology in the near future, Mr Sajed concluded.
The announcement of the card volumes coincides with two of Britain’s retailers, Caffe Nero and Pret A Manger, finishing the roll out of the merchant technology across their nationwide stores.
This brings the total number of retailers accepting the cards through Barclaycard to 20,000.
Caffe Nero, the largest independent coffee retailer in the UK, signed up and has completed its roll out of the technology across all of its 380 stores.
The coffee retailer originally trialled the integrated EpoS contactless system in several of its outlets in central London in December, 2008.
Pret A Manger, the high street food chain, started accepting contactless payments in November 2008 and has now completed the implementation of the technology at all of its 199 stores in the UK.
Amer Sajed, chief executive, Barclaycard UK, Business and International said that five million contactless payment cards issued is a significant milestone on the journey of how people will pay for goods and services in the future.
Together with Barclays, Barclaycard continues to rollout contactless technology across the group’s card portfolio as it is believed to be the future of payments, Mr Sajed added.
Consumer feedback highlights the increasing demand for contactless payment and Barclaycard expects to see more retailers follow Caffe Nero and Pret A Manger and sign up to contactless technology in the near future, Mr Sajed concluded.
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