By Sarah Clark
One in five UK card users (20%) now uses a digital wallet for more than 50 per cent of their card transactions and one in ten (10%) uses a digital wallet for more than 75 per cent of their transactions, research conducted by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has revealed.
Six in ten UK card users (59%) still do not use a digital wallet at all, however, the research found.
In total, more than 9bn transactions were made using digital wallets in the UK in 2023, up from just 1bn transactions in 2019.
The percentage of card transactions made through digital wallets has also significantly increased, up from 8 per cent in 2019 to 29 per cent in 2023.
The statistics form part of Big Tech and Digital Wallets, a joint feedback statement by the FCA and the Payment Systems Regulator to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)’s investigations into Apple and Google’s mobile ecosystems.
“Taken together, these statistics suggest that pass-through wallets, particularly Apple Pay and Google Pay, are growing rapidly in popularity, and some customers are becoming increasingly dependent on them,” the regulators say.
