Brits ready to pay with wearable devices

26% of British shoppers expect to start using contactless payments with a smartwatch, bracelet, keyring etc, according to new Mastercard research which included a study involving 50,747 people in the UK, France, Russia, Spain, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Poland and Sweden.

“Europe leads the world in contactless payments and its overwhelming success has created a demand for even greater convenience,” says Paolo Battiston, Executive Vice President Digital Payments & Labs Europe at Mastercard. “Shoppers trust in contactless is greater than ever, and in turn it seems they are ready to take this one stage further by trying contactless through connected devices. Pilots like the one we’re involved with in The Netherlands will empower consumers in the digital economy.” 

ABN AMRO is one of the first banks to enable worldwide payments with a wearable that’s linked to a current account, with a pilot for 500 customers of different age groups. “With customer expectations clear and the new technology available today, the time has come to drop cumbersome methods of payment and embrace a better consumer experience through wearable payments,” says Yvonne Duits, Product Owner Payments at ABN AMRO. “We care about making things convenient for consumers and offering everyone a payment method that suits their preferences and this pilot is testament to that.”