UK Payment Markets 2025 (Summary) (UK Finance)

Summary

• 48.8 billion payments were made in the UK in 2024.p.3
• Debit cards were the most used payment method with 26.1 billion payments, accounting for half of all payments.p.3
• Cash payments fell to 4.4 billion in 2024, with its share of payments falling from 12% to 9%.p.9
• Faster Payments and other remote banking totalled 5.6 billion payments and are now the second most used payment method.p.3
• Around 1 in 4 adults (25%) used Buy Now Pay Later in 2024, compared with 14% the previous year.p.9
• Card payments are forecast to reach 67% of all payments in 2034.p.3

Key insights

1. The number of payments rose 1.9% to 48.8 billion in 2024.p.4
2. Contactless card payment growth slowed to 3% in 2024, from 7% in 2023.p.4
3. Debit cards are forecast to reach 30.6 billion payments in 2034.p.3
4. 88% of UK adults used at least one form of remote banking in 2024, and 75% used mobile banking.p.3
5. Cheque volumes declined by 17% in 2024 and now account for only 0.2% of payments.p.3
6. In 2034 cash is forecast to account for around 4% of all payments.p.9