Press Release

Barclays has produced a short «vidcast» to help customers looking to find out more about contactless – the new quick and easy way to pay for small transactions on debit and credit cards.

The video, available to view on www.barclays.co.uk/video, explains what contactless is, why Barclays is leading the industry in its roll-out of contactless cards and how and where contactless can be used.

Barclays is the first bank in the UK to have contactless technology available on its debit and credit cards. Since March 2009, most Barclays debit cards that have been issued or reissued have had contactless technology built in as standard. Over one million customers already have Barclays contactless debit cards and over two million have contactless Barclaycard credit cards.

The technology allows customers to pay for transactions of £10 or less by holding their card up to a special reader, without the need to enter a PIN or insert the card into a terminal. The transaction is debited directly from the customer’s current account or applied to their credit card account in the same way that a standard card transaction is. The cards still operate as normal debit and credit cards with chip and PIN security and periodically prompt for the PIN to be entered to verify the customer’s identity.

Other videos available on the site provide information on online security, Personal Reserve overdrafts and the flagship branch at London’s Piccadilly Circus.

Barclays
Date: 20.10.2009