Britain to raise contactless payment limit to 100 stg on Oct. 15

LONDON (Reuters) -Banks will start rolling out the new 100 pound ($137) spending limit for contactless payments from Oct. 15, Britain's banking industry body UK Finance said on Friday.

Contactless payments surged during the pandemic, with some shops refusing to take cash to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

"Given the number of terminals which will need to be updated to accept the new limit, it will take some time to be introduced across all retailers," UK Finance said in a statement.

Contactless payments accounted for 49% of all credit card and 65% of all debit card transactions in May, UK Finance said.

Transactions in May were double the same month in 2020.

The limit on payments had already been increased to 45 pounds from 30 pounds in April 2020, a month after the first national lockdown in Britain was introduced.

The decision to raise the limit was made by the finance ministry and the Financial Conduct Authority.

"Increasing the contactless limit will make it easier than ever to pay safely and securely - whether that’s at the local shops, or your favourite pub and restaurant," finance minister Rishi Sunak said.

The threshold for multiple contactless transactions before a customer is required to enter their PIN number will also rise from 130 pounds to 300 pounds.

($1 = 0.7298 pounds)

(Reporting by Huw Jones; editing by Carolyn Cohn and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)