Is This The End Of Credit Cards? Chips without plastic

Plastic cards could become a thing of the past after Barclaycard announced it was investing a seven-figure sum in new ways to make payments. Whatever happened to good old fashioned cash?

Plastic cards could become a thing of the past after Barclaycard announced it was investing a seven-figure sum in new ways to make payments.

Is this the future of payment?

Contactless payment technology allows people to pay for items with the things they have with them, such as mobile phones, key fobs and even their eyes or fingerprints.

Barclaycard's OnePulse was launched in London last year with some 10,000 customers.

It enables people to buy items for less than £10 by touching their card against a sensor, without even having to take it out of their wallet.

It can also be used as an Oyster card on London public transport.

Barclaycard aims to have one million customers upgraded to OnePulse by the end of the year, with payment terminals introduced in 9,000 shops across the UK.

The group also carried out a recent trial with mobile phone operator O2 in which customers paid for items with their mobiles.

Payment via your mobile phone?

Barclaycard said in the future people could be alerted to special offers in nearby shops through their mobiles.

Other ideas include enabling people to hover their mobile over the price label of an item in a shop and then add it to a virtual basket.

People would then be able to confirm their purchase and take it away without having to go to a checkout or get a receipt.

Antony Jenkins, chief executive of Barclaycard, said: ""The chips on credit cards now have incredible untapped capability, but the plastic around the chip limits its potential.

"Take the plastic away and the possibilities are endless.

"In time you won't have to carry a plastic credit card around with you if you don't want to, although some people will choose to for nostalgic reasons."