Dear Subscriber,

And we’re back with our first newsletter of 2016! The New Year could not have got off to a more exciting start, especially for proponents of contactless cards. The ‘tap-and-pay’ cards now make up 10 per cent of all card transactions for the first time, according to The UK Cards Association. Elsewhere, PaymentEye caught up with Rita Liu, Alipay’s Head of Europe, to talk about the challenges of expanding internationally and what the future of e-commerce and cash will be. A key focus in 2016 will be on checkout conversion rates and PayPal was quick to point out that its One Touch service has already racked up 10 million users in under a year. Finally, we have a comprehensive infographic covering the current Bitcoin landscape, and statistics that suggest the real winner over the Christmas period was mobile banking.

The contactless card industry’s 2016 got off to an excellent start as new figures from the UK Cards Association showed that the NFC cards now account for 10 per cent of all card transactions, the first time this milestone has been reached.

In December, Alipay, the Chinese e-payments service, partnered with global electronic payments group for merchants Wirecard, allowing Chinese users to pay with their smartphone and Alipay app in Europe. PaymentEye spoke to Rita Liu, Alipay’s head of Europe, about the partnership, the opportunities presented by Chinese tourism and the future of e-commerce and cash.

One in seven active online banking customers checked their bank account on Christmas Day, according to Halifax. The high street bank said that over 675,000 (14 per cent) active Halifax online banking customers logged on to their bank account on 25 December this year, up from 12 per cent on the previous year.

The payments giant has claimed that in six months since the launch of One Touch on web and mobile in the US, the company’s one-click payment service has racked up over 10 million users.

With a new year comes a look to the future. With that in mind, it is important to look at the current state of all of payment market’s arenas and see how they ended 2015. Starting with Bitcoin, the comprehensive infographic below from the team over at Bargain Fox, argues that the cryptocurrency’s growth in 2016 will be anything but slow.