Britons are conducting mobile and internet banking transactions worth almost £1 billion (US $1.7 billion) a day, according to a new report from the British Bankers’ Association. Digital banking is now used for transactions worth £6.4 billion (US $11 billion) a week, up from £5.8 billion (US $9.9 billion) in 2013. Banking apps for mobiles and tablets have now been downloaded more than 14.7 million times, a rise of 2.3 million since January 2014. Spending on contactless cards is expected to rise to £6.1 million (US $10.4 million) a week in 2014, up from £3.2 million (US $5.5 million) in 2013. An estimated 77 percent of U.K. consumers use online or mobile banking at least once a month.

Tarifica’s Take

While the developing world has been the leader in using mobile technology for the handling of money, the developed world is enthusiastically following suit. In sophisticated, affluent markets like the U.K., smartphones and other devices are increasingly being used not only for the managing of bank accounts but for direct payments. These statistics speak eloquently to the point that even in countries whose populations are hardly “underbanked,” mobile services and money are now intimately intertwined.