With a number of high street banks planning to introduce contactless payment methods for purchases worth under £10, Rob Kenley, head of credit cards at moneysupermarket.com, is convinced that using mobile phones for the same purpose could help boost consumer confidence in the idea.

“Using a mobile phone can provide consumers with more control because they can activate or deactivate the contactless chip using the handset in the same way as Bluetooth and this function could be Pin protected,” said Mr Kenley.

“The ability to switch off a contactless chip would provide customers with more confidence to adopt and use contactless payments,” he added.

Mr Kenley’s comments came in response to an announcement from Barclaycard that it intends to trial the use of mobile phones as a way for goods and services.

Barclaycard’s partners in the trail process include telecoms companies Nokia and O2, as well as Visa Europe and Transport for London.

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