Quick summary: UK payment processing in 2026

If you need the main UK payment statistics quickly:

• 48.8 billion payments were made in the UK during 2024, the latest complete annual market dataset.

• 64% of UK transactions were made using debit, credit or charge cards.

• UK consumers made 26.1 billion debit card payments in 2024.

• There were 18.9 billion contactless card payments in 2024.

• More recent data shows 19.2 billion contactless payments worth £311 billion were made during 2025.

• 57% of UK adults used a mobile wallet during 2024.

• 5.6 billion Faster Payments transactions were made in 2024.

• Cash fell to 4.4 billion payments, representing less than 10% of UK payments for the first time.

• Open Banking Limited reported more than 19 million active open banking user connections and more than 40 million monthly open banking payments by June 2026.

• The Bank of England said in February 2026 that the average cost to UK merchants of accepting cards is around 0.6% of transaction value.

• The Bank of England also reported that the smallest merchants pay more than four times as much on average as very large merchants to accept cards.

These figures come from UK Finance, the Bank of England, the Payment Systems Regulator and Open Banking Limited rather than estimates produced by Merchant Advice Service. (UK Finance, Bank of England, Open Banking Limited)

UK payments data at a glance

Important: different organisations publish payment data at different intervals. For this reason, the latest available reporting period is shown beside each statistic rather than describing every number simply as “2026 data.”

How many payments are made in the UK?

The latest complete annual figures published by UK Finance show that 48.8 billion payments were made in the UK during 2024, up 1.9% from 2023.

Consumers accounted for around 84% of these payments, with businesses, government and not-for-profit organisations accounting for approximately 16%.

View the UK Finance payment market figures.

This distinction is important when researching UK payments statistics. Annual market data normally trails the current year because it takes time to collect and consolidate information across payment methods.

What percentage of UK payments are made by card?

Cards remain the UK's dominant payment method.

Debit, credit and charge cards accounted for 64% of all UK transactions during 2024.

UK Finance recorded:

• 26.1 billion debit card payments

• 5 billion credit and charge card payments

• 18.9 billion contactless debit and credit card payments

Debit card usage increased by around 6% compared with 2023.

Source: UK Finance – UK Payment Markets 2024 findings.

For businesses comparing UK payment providers, card acceptance therefore remains a central part of the payment mix even as open banking and other account-to-account payment methods grow.

How many contactless payments are made in the UK?

Contactless payments continue to increase.

There were 18.9 billion contactless debit and credit card payments during 2024.

More recent UK Finance data records 19.2 billion contactless payments during 2025, worth approximately £311 billion.

By December 2025, contactless represented:

• 76% of debit card transactions

• 67% of credit card transactions

The average contactless payment value was just under £18.

Source: UK Finance – Contactless cards information.

How many people use mobile wallets in the UK?

Mobile-wallet adoption has increased sharply.

UK Finance reported that 57% of UK adults used mobile wallets during 2024, compared with 42% during 2023.

Adoption is highest among younger customers, but the change is not confined to younger age groups. Mobile-wallet registration among people aged 65 and over rose from 14% to 25% between 2023 and 2024.

Source: UK Finance.

For merchants, this means Apple Pay, Google Pay and other wallets are increasingly part of normal card acceptance rather than an unusual alternative payment method.

How quickly is open banking growing in the UK?

Open banking payments remain considerably smaller than card payments in absolute terms, but their growth makes them increasingly relevant to merchants.

Open Banking Limited reported in June 2026 that UK open banking supported:

• More than 19 million active user connections

• More than 40 million payments each month

Source: Open Banking Limited – June 2026 Payments Fraud Monitor.

For comparison, Open Banking Limited recorded 31 million open banking payments in March 2025, illustrating the subsequent increase in payment volumes.

Businesses considering account-to-account payments can read our guide to what Open Banking means for merchants.

How many Faster Payments are made in the UK?

UK Finance recorded approximately 5.6 billion Faster Payments and other remote-banking payments during 2024, an increase of around 14% from the previous year.

That made Faster Payments the UK's second most-used payment method after cards.

Source: UK Finance.

The infrastructure is particularly relevant to merchant payments because many open-banking payment journeys ultimately use bank-to-bank payment rails.

Is cash still used in the UK?

Yes.

Although cash usage continues to decline, approximately 4.4 billion cash payments were made during 2024.

That was down from six billion in 2023 and meant cash represented less than 10% of UK payments for the first time.

Around 1.2 million people still relied mainly on cash for everyday spending during 2024.

Source: UK Finance.

What does it cost UK businesses to accept card payments?

There is no single card-processing rate that applies to every UK merchant.

The cost can depend on:

• card type

• consumer or commercial card

• debit or credit

• UK or international card

• card-present or card-not-present transaction

• transaction value

• processing volume

• merchant industry

• risk profile

• acquirer or PSP

• pricing model

• gateway charges

• authorisation fees

• scheme fees

• provider margin.

However, there is now an important independent benchmark.

In February 2026, Bank of England Deputy Governor Sarah Breeden stated that the average cost to UK merchants of accepting card payments is around 0.6% of transaction value.

The Bank of England also reported that the smallest merchants pay more than four times as much on average as very large merchants.

Source: Bank of England – Talking 'bout next generation, February 2026.

This does not mean every business should expect to receive a quote of 0.6%.

It is an average merchant cost of card acceptance across the market. Individual merchant pricing may differ substantially.

Businesses wanting to understand the different parts of their bill can read our detailed guide to merchant account fees.

What are UK card interchange fees?

Interchange is one part of the cost involved in accepting many card transactions.

Under the UK Interchange Fee Regulation, where the caps apply, consumer interchange is currently limited to:

These caps generally apply when the merchant, acquirer and card issuer are located in the UK and the transaction is within the scope of the regulation.

Source: Payment Systems Regulator – Interchange Fee Regulation.

Interchange is not the same as the final merchant service charge.

A merchant may also pay scheme fees, processing charges, acquiring margin and other account or service fees.

Why can international cards cost more?

Cross-border transactions can have a significantly different cost structure from domestic UK cards.

Following the UK's withdrawal from the EU, Visa and Mastercard increased interchange on certain UK-EEA card-not-present transactions from:

• 0.20% to 1.15% for consumer debit

• 0.30% to 1.50% for consumer credit

The Payment Systems Regulator subsequently concluded that Visa and Mastercard were not subject to effective competitive constraints in this area and estimated the increases were costing businesses an additional £150 million to £200 million annually.

Source: Payment Systems Regulator – Cross-border interchange fee market review.

This is one reason ecommerce businesses should consider card mix and customer location when comparing processing quotes rather than comparing a headline percentage alone.

Examples of publicly advertised UK card-processing prices

The following are provider-published list prices, not market averages.

They are included as examples of how pricing structures differ.

Sources: SumUp pricing, Square pricing, Stripe pricing, Revolut Business pricing.

These prices should not be interpreted as a ranking of providers.

Larger businesses and merchants with different risk, volume or transaction profiles may receive bespoke pricing.

You can read more about how to compare UK payment providers.

Why Merchant Advice Service does not publish invented “typical sector rates”

You may see payment websites state that a restaurant, retailer or ecommerce business should typically pay a particular percentage.

That can be useful when it is supported by a clearly defined dataset.

Without a methodology, however, it can be misleading.

A retailer processing £10,000 each month through a flat-rate card reader does not necessarily have the same cost structure as a retailer processing £2 million through an interchange-plus-plus merchant agreement.

Similarly, two ecommerce businesses with identical turnover can have very different costs because of their:

• average transaction values

• consumer/commercial card mix

• UK/international card mix

• refund and chargeback levels

• industries

• fraud profile

• acquiring arrangements.

Merchant Advice Service therefore distinguishes between:

Official market statistics
Data published by bodies such as UK Finance, the Bank of England or Payment Systems Regulator.

Provider-published pricing
Prices advertised publicly by individual payment providers.

Merchant-specific pricing
Rates and fees offered following underwriting and commercial negotiation.

MAS analysis
Calculations, comparisons or observations produced by Merchant Advice Service, which should be identified as such.

What are the biggest UK payments trends in 2026?

1. Cards remain dominant

Cards accounted for 64% of UK payments in the latest complete annual dataset.

They remain fundamental to UK merchant acceptance.

2. The card is becoming less visible

Consumers may still ultimately use Visa or Mastercard rails while interacting with a phone or wearable rather than a physical card.

That makes mobile-wallet optimisation increasingly important.

3. Open banking is becoming a genuine merchant payment channel

More than 40 million monthly open-banking payments means Pay by Bank is no longer purely an experimental payment method.

4. Smaller businesses appear to carry a disproportionate acceptance cost

The Bank of England's observation that the smallest merchants pay more than four times as much on average as very large merchants makes pricing transparency especially relevant to SMEs.

5. Comparing headline percentages is becoming less useful

A merchant's effective cost can include much more than its transaction percentage.

For a practical breakdown, see our Merchant Account Fees Explained guide.

Methodology and data policy

Merchant Advice Service created this page as an independently compiled reference guide.

We have not described a figure as an industry statistic unless we can identify its source.

Where a figure represents a provider's advertised price, we identify it as provider-published pricing.

Where MAS performs its own calculation or analysis, it will be identified as Merchant Advice Service analysis.

Statistics are checked periodically because payment volumes, provider pricing and regulatory rules change over time.

Sources and reference links

UK Finance – UK Payment Markets 2024 findings
https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/news-and-insight/press-release/over-half-uk-adults-now-use-mobile-wallets

UK Finance – Contactless cards information
https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/policy-and-guidance/guidance/contactless-cards-information

Bank of England – Sarah Breeden, Talking 'bout next generation, February 2026
https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/speech/2026/february/sarah-breeden-keynote-speech-at-the-city-financial-annual-payments-regulation-and-innovation-summit

Payment Systems Regulator – Interchange Fee Regulation
https://www.psr.org.uk/our-work/card-payments/the-ifr/

Payment Systems Regulator – UK/EEA cross-border interchange review
https://www.psr.org.uk/our-work/market-reviews/market-review-into-cross-border-interchange-fees/

Open Banking Limited – June 2026 Payments Fraud Monitor
https://www.openbanking.org.uk/insights/open-banking-payments-fraud-monitor-june-2026-edition/

SumUp UK pricing
https://www.sumup.com/en-gb/pricing/

Square UK pricing
https://squareup.com/gb/en/pricing

Stripe UK pricing
https://stripe.com/gb/payments/checkout

Revolut Business payment acceptance pricing
https://www.revolut.com/business/accept-payments-pricing/

About Merchant Advice Service

Merchant Advice Service is an independent payments information and comparison website. We may receive a fee from some payment providers where a business chooses to proceed following an introduction. This does not influence the statistics, regulatory information or publicly advertised provider pricing included in this article.

Providers have not paid for inclusion in this data guide unless explicitly stated. Market statistics are taken from the original sources referenced and linked throughout the article. Provider prices are taken from publicly available provider information and should be checked directly before making a decision, as pricing and terms can change.

Merchant Advice Service does not provide legal, regulatory or financial advice. Information is provided for general guidance and comparison purposes.