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DIGITAL WALLETS In 2015, Worldpay predicted that credit and debit card payments would drop from two-thirds of all transactions to half by 2019. Taking their place are mobile transactions. Mobile wallets from Apple Pay and Google Android Pay entered the market in 2014 and 2015 respectively, while JP Morgan Chase unveiled Chase Pay in November 2016, and 2017 will see the UK launch of Samsung Pay. With a digital wallet you can pay for your lunch or Tube fare simply by touching your phone or smartwatch on an NFC sensor, as well as store boarding passes and loyalty cards.

Apple Pay receives a million new users a week and, by July 2016, it accounted for three-quarters of contactless payments in the US. Jet Blue and Emirates were the first airlines to partner with Apple Pay, while in November Qatar Airways announced it was integrating the technology for the purchasing of flights through its app. Other travel companies that have come on board include Airbnb, British Airways, Delta, Easyjet, Expedia, Marriott International and Uber.