Many of us are now reaching for our cards or mobiles rather than cash to make low-value purchases, as customers opt for the convenience and security of paying with contactless.

It's astonishing to think that total contactless spending amounted to £69 billion in 2018, up by nearly a third on the previous year. And from a standing start in 2008. 

In 2017 £58.4 billion was spent on debit cards, which overtook cash as the most popular method of payment in 2017 with an annual increase approaching 30 per cent. £10.6 billion was spent on credit cards, up nearly 50 per cent on the previous year.

Perhaps these increases are not that surprising given that eight out of ten debit cards and six out of ten credit cards are now contactless. There were 7.4 billion debit and credit card contactless transactions in 2018, compared to the 5.6 billion seen in 2017. This breaks down into 6.3 billion for debit cards, a 29.1 per cent increase on the previous year and 1.1 billion for credit cards, a 43.7 per cent annual increase.

There has also been an increase in credit card use although growth in outstanding balances has slowed, suggesting many consumers are using their cards for day-to-day spending rather than as a means of borrowing. Total spending on credit cards was £192 billion in 2018, up over seven per cent on the year before. There were 3.3 billion transactions on credit cards in 2018, up nearly nine per cent on the previous year. While the use of credit cards continues to increase as a preferred payment method, the annual growth rate in outstanding balances fell by almost a third to 4.7 per cent in December 2018, compared to seven per cent in the same month the previous year.

Spending on debit cards was also up in 2018, by nearly four per cent more than the year before at £584 billion. The volume of transactions increased too ? there were 16.5 billion transactions on debit cards in 2018, up 12 per cent on the previous year.

But let's maintain a critical perspective here. Despite consumers? changing preferences - and for all the data and the statistics reeled off in this blog, cash remains an important payment method for many people. And that's the point; for those who prefer - or need - to manage their money in cash, that option should always be freely available to them.  Natalie Ceeney made the point in her independent review on Access to Cash. And Charles Randell, the Chair of the FCA made the point too, laying bare the realities of cash use at our Retail Banking Conference this week. The call to action is clear; it's down to the industry to make sure that cash stays with us as long as we want it to.