Visa offers businesses incentive to only accept card and digital payments

A quarter of UK consumers say that they have started avoiding shops that do not accept card payments

Figures from the UK Cards Association shows that contactless card spending surged by 225 per cent during 2016 (Getty)

Visa has launched an initiative encouraging retailers in the US to go cashless and is considering rolling out a similar scheme in the UK and other countries.

The company on Friday told The Independent that it had launched a "cashless challenge" whereby US businesses can win $10,000 to help them with their "drive to cashlessness". It said that it hopes to offer a similar challenge to businesses in other countries in future, including the UK, but that it does not yet have a firm plan on when this initiative would be rolled out here. The campaign was first reported by the Daily Telegraph.

James Frost, the UK chief marketing officer of payment provider Worldpay said last month that 60 per cent of 24-34 year olds already say they prefer not to carry cash and for all age groups that figure stands at around 48 per cent.

“Innovations like contactless and mobile payments make popping to the cash machine seem like a unnecessary chore compared to the speed, simplicity and convenience of tapping,” he said.

Data from Worldpay also shows that a quarter of UK consumers say that they have started avoiding shops that do not accept card payments, while a third say they only use cash if absolutely necessary.

Figures from the UK Cards Association shows that contactless card spending surged by 225 per cent during 2016 and now accounts for 1 out of 4 card payments.