Barclays is increasing the value of transactions customers can make using its contactless payment cards to £15, the bank has announced.

Contactless cards enable customers to make purchases in shops without the need to enter a pin or insert the card into a terminal. Instead, the contactless card is "tapped" on to a symbol on the front of a terminal for a couple of seconds.

The group said it had decided to raise the existing £10 limit following demand from customers and retailers.

Barclays, which introduced the first contactless payment card in the UK through its Barclaycard subsidiary in 2007, has over six million contactless enabled cards in issue in the UK.

Since March last year it has been giving contactless payment cards to its current account holders as standard. For other types of payment the cards still operate as normal debit and credit cards with chip and pin security.

"The future" of payments

Brian Cunnington, head of debit cards for Barclays, said: “Contactless technology is undoubtedly the future of payments and we are seeing it grow hugely in popularity.

“More than two years after the first customers were issued with contactless cards, it is the right time for the industry limit to increase to £15, in line with demand from consumers and retailers alike.

“The new higher limit gives customers the flexibility of paying for even more transactions quickly, securely and conveniently via a contactless card payment and will lead to more retailers implementing the technology.”

People can now use contactless payment cards at more than 20,000 payment terminals across the UK, including at Pret A Manger, Caffè Nero and Krispy Kreme, as well as at thousands of independent retailers.