A new report has projected that the United Kingdom digital payment market will hit $271.4 billion in value in 2021.

Buyshare, a UK financial education hub (an online site that provides educational guide on how to buy shares), on Tuesday said cashless payments in the UK jumped by 40% amid the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020.

The report projected that the market’s transaction value would rise by another 60 percent summing up to $439 billion in 2025.

“The United Kingdom, as the leading digital payments market in Europe, is expected to hit $271.4 billion value in 2021, almost a 25 percent increase in a year. 

“Statistics show cashless payments in the UK jumped by 40 percent amid the COVID-19 outbreak. By 2025, their transaction value is forecast to jump by another 60 percent to $439 billion,” the report stated.

It associated the rapid digitalisation of the country’s entire payment industry with the outbreak of COVID-19.

The report indicated that the “number of ATMs in the United Kingdom plunged by almost 6,000 in a year, falling to 55,000 in December 2020.” 

It added that the social distancing rules and the COVID-19 lockdown led to the massive closure of ATMs across the UK in the first quarter of 2020. 

“Even before the pandemic, the United Kingdom witnessed rapid adoption of digital payments as a more convenient way to manage money, especially among tech-savvy consumers. 

“However, the COVID-19 speeded up the digitalisation of the entire payments industry, with millions of Britons choosing online payments over cash and ATMs amid the lockdown,” the report stated. 

As the largest segment of the market, digital commerce is expected to reach $172.8 billion in transaction value in 2021 and continue rising to $219.2 billion in 2025.

Mobile POS payments are forecast to witness a 123 percent increase in this period, with their transaction value jumping from $98.5 billion in 2021 to $219.9 billion in 2025.