According to Marqeta's 2024 State of Payments Report, UK consumers are leading in digital financial services adoption, driven by rising demand for innovation and convenience in payments and banking. The report, which surveyed 4,000 consumers across the UK, US, and Australia, found that 80% of UK respondents used contactless payments in the past week, nearly double the 46% reported in the US.
The report, the fifth annual Marqeta survey of consumers about their purchase preferences, reveals that UK consumers are growing more comfortable with a cashless society with 50% of UK respondents citing they’re feeling positive about this shift and 50% have also decreased their cash spending in 2023, compared to 31% of US respondents.
UK consumers have also embraced the transition to digital wallets, with 74% of those surveyed confirming that they automatically add a new card to their mobile wallet, 40% surveyed reporting using a mobile wallet in the last week, and 68% now feeling confident enough to leave their physical wallets at home, demonstrating the societal shift to increased reliance on digital payments.
The study also finds that in the UK, existing payment structures are lagging behind the growing consumer demand for instant, digital payments. Despite 88% of UK respondents agreeing that getting paid earlier would improve their financial peace of mind, the majority (82%) still only have access to owed funds at the end of the month.
Providing earlier access to wage programmes like Accelerated Wage Access (AWA) could help UK workers that are struggling to keep up with the rising cost of living, including the 36% of UK respondents that reported using credit between paychecks and the 76% that cited they often live paycheck-to-paycheck.
Within banking, UK consumers have been slower to adapt to a completely digital offering compared to the trendsetting pace of digital payments adoption, with 53% of UK respondents reporting they’ve been a customer of the same bank for a decade or more. However, 20% of UK respondents confirmed they would consider shifting completely to a digital only bank, and 39% would consider using a non-financial provider.
UK consumers value trust above all else when selecting a non-financial services provider, with 52% citing trust in a brand as a reason for selecting it. As embedded finance becomes more widely adopted, and alternative providers more established, it's likely that digital options outside of traditional banks will be more strongly embraced.
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