BREXIT MEANS A BETTER ECONOMY
Leaving the EU allowed the UK to increase the spending limits on contactless payments during the Covid pandemic, allowing customers to be processed with a reduced risk of infection – and more quickly and easily thereafter.
Explanation:
| The UK’s most popular payment method, owing to its speed and convenience, is the use of contactless. In October 2021, the FCA allowed UK banks to offer contactless payments for transactions up to £100 – and in 2023 a record 93.4% of all in-store transactions under £100 were paid for using contactless.
The EU has a 50 EUR (£42) limit on contactless payments, so the only reason that UK banks can make payments quicker and easier for so many UK consumers and their many transactions, is because the UK left the EU. The use of contactless during the Covid pandemic was seen as one of the many changes able to be made in the UK, due to the flexibility of having left the EU, which aided consumers in still being able to purchase their necessary goods whilst limiting contact and the risk of contagion. Not only is the use of contactless beneficial to the consumer through making their transactions quicker and easier, but it also allows businesses to process their customers quicker, at no extra cost on a per transaction basis. There were 1.59 billion in-store contactless card transactions in March 2024 – many hundreds of millions of them were only possible at that level of speed and convenience, taking only seconds instead of minutes to transact and thus increasing productivity, because of Brexit. |
Reference: https://home.barclays/insights/2024/02/80-pc-of-85-6o-95-year-olds-now-pay-with-contactless/
Reference: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32018R0389&from=DE