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Barclays and Barclaycard said Thursday they have issued more than 5 million contactless payments cards in the United Kingdom. Barclaycard is the credit card-issuing arm of Barlcays PLC. The British financial institution did not say how many were debit or credit cards, but earlier this year Barclaycard said it had issued at least 1.5 million Visa-branded contactless credit cards (CardLine Global, 21 July 2009). Part of the card base comes from OnePulse cards, a product the bank launched in 2007 that enables consumers to make contactless purchases and fare payments for London mass transit. Barclaycard has issued contactless cards to customers it acquired when the UK bank in 2008 acquired Goldfish from Discover Financial Services. Barclaycard replaced the magnetic stripe cards with chip cards. Barclays and Barclaycard account for the vast majority of contactless cards in the UK, according to industry observers. The UK Cards Association, an issuer trade group, predicts that some 15,000 terminals in the UK will accept contactless payments by the end of the year.
