The year 2025: Brits expect to be able to pay by thumbprint scan

More than half of Brits (51%) expect to be able to pay by scanning their thumbprint in the year 2025 according to a survey carried out by the Payments Council's education campaign, PayYourWay.org.uk.

Looking ahead to 2025, whilst the vast majority still expect to be using cash (68%), credit (73%) and debit (75%) cards - 42% of Brits think new technology will enable them do away with their physical purse or wallet if they choose. The results also point to payments using a mobile phone becoming a mainstream option - seven out of ten people surveyed expect to be able to use their mobile to make a payment in 2025.

The research was carried out to coincide with the publication of a new report examining the future of payments and the ways it could be possible to pay. In the report, Pay Your Way 2025: Future Payments, leading independent futurologist Dr Ian Pearson uses his expert knowledge of trends in technology and society to give his view on what types of payments could be both possible and popular:

Digital jewellery - according to Dr Pearson jewellery such as lapel pins, rings, badges, necklaces, or earrings might replace mobile phones in the form we know them now and either transfer money themselves or authenticate a payment.

Pay by handshake - handshakes are a well-established social ritual, so using them as part of payment transactions would feel very natural, Dr Pearson argues. He points out that data can be transmitted electrically through the skin - a data rate of 2Mbits/sec (equivalent to over 100 pages of text during a handshake) was achieved as far back as the 1990s.

Augmented reality - computer generated images could be superimposed onto contact lenses. This, coupled with using gestures to pay for items, will make shopping more ‘natural' and could destroy many of the boundaries between web and high street shopping. This will also increase markets for electronic payments.

Interestingly, whilst 51% expect to be able to pay by thumbprint scans, Dr Pearson said security concerns would actually limit its use, saying it is easy to get hold of someone's prints - for example from a glass they have used in a bar. He suggests the security of this method might be improved if used in conjunction with printing unique electronic information on to the fingernail or in conjunction with digital jewellery. Indeed, technology already exists that scans the veins of the fingers, rather than the print, as an enhanced security method.

Whatever the future holds, the Payments Council's recent survey amongst over 4,000 consumers confirms that speed and security are likely to be more of a concern than convenience. Unsurprisingly, almost everyone (93%) surveyed agreed that the security of payments is important to them at the moment, while nearly two thirds (62 per cent) admit to concerns that payments using new technology might not be secure.

Almost nine out of ten people (89%) agree that they like payment transactions to be as quick as possible, while 68% admit to getting impatient if they think a transaction is taking too long.

Commenting for Pay Your Way, Adrian Kamellard, Chief Executive of the Payments Council said: "Although it might seem farfetched to suggest that we'll be using an item of jewellery to pay by 2025, what we can be sure of is that customers can look forward to plenty more innovation in the way we pay over the next few years. Our job at the Payments Council is to ensure that any new services are secure and are shaped by the needs of all customers who may wish to use them."

Dr Pearson comments: "Technology will adapt to us, making it easier to pay for things, even for people who dislike technology. As in so many other areas, the more advanced technology becomes, the less visible it will be, and the more human."

Pay Your Way 2025: Future Payments also contains an illustrated timeline of the history of innovation in payments and a review of the predictions we made in 2001 about 2011. For a full copy of the report and for more on payment methods available now, visit payyourway.org.uk/