Barclays announces Apple Pay support

Apple Pay is now available to Barclaycard and Barclays customers, the bank has announced. "We are passionate about helping customers access services and carry out their day to day transactions in the way that suits them", said Ashok Vaswani, CEO of Barclays UK.

"As part of this, we have developed a range of digital innovations that allow people to choose how, when and where they bank and make payments. Adding to the existing choice, from today both Barclays debit and Barclaycard credit card customers can use Apple Pay to make payments with their Apple device across the UK".

The new payment method, whose popularity is growing by the second, is supported by these devices: iPhone SE, iPhone 6 and beyond, Apple Watch, iPad Air 2, iPad mini 3, iPad mini 4 and iPad Pro.

According to the press release, there are more than 400,000 contactless locations in the UK, across the London transport network and within participating retailers’ apps.

"Since we introduced contactless to the UK in 2007, it’s changed the way consumers make everyday purchases by cutting out the hassle of handling cash", said Amer Sajed, Interim CEO of Barclaycard. "With Barclaycard and Barclays bringing Apple Pay to our customers, we can now offer the widest choice of ways to make and take payments in a way that’s most convenient for them".

Contactless payment is gaining ground in the UK. According to latest figures by Visa Europe, contactless payments have seen an increase in use of 237 percent year-on-year.

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