Mobile payments up in UK but debit cards remain king—for now

Homepage > News > Finance > Mobile payments up in UK but debit cards remain king—for now Debit cards remain the United Kingdom’s most frequently used payment method. Meanwhile, 91% of adults used at least one form of remote banking in 2025, and mobile contactless payment services such as Apple Pay and Google Pay continue to grow in popularity, according to a report by UK Finance. On Wednesday, banking trade body UK Finance published its annual report examining trends in the U.K. payment market in detail, with the latest edition focusing on 2025 and forecasting through 2035. It outlined how the long-term decline of cash has continued, although the pace of change has slowed, and while debit cards continue to dominate, their growth is starting to level off, in contrast to the continued and more notable rise in mobile wallet use. “Within almost 50 billion payments made during 2025, debit cards remained the U.K.’s most frequently used payment method. However, after years of sustained growth, debit card use appears to be reaching a natural plateau as consumer adoption matures,” said Jana Mackintosh, Managing Director of Payments and Innovation at UK Finance. “New technologies an...