20 million contactless cards in the UK by the end of the year?

Visa has predicted that there will be 20 million contactless cards in the UK by the end of this year. At the end of March there were already 13 million Visa PayWave cards in circulation, with more and more people are expected to start using them as NFC terminals are installed by major businesses, such as McDonald's and Starbucks.

More banks are also starting to use the technology. Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds and Bank of America have all joined Barclays in issuing contactless cards. Transport for London's contactless Oyster system will also allow people to use their Visa PayWave cards by 2012.

2012 is set to be a big year for contactless payment, with Visa and Lloyds raising the technology's profile ahead of the London Olympics, in which they are official partners.