So-called faster payments, including those made using mobile devices, may make up only a small proportion of the total volume of transactions made by holders of bank current accounts, but they are seeing a rapid increase in the amount spent, according to a report by Halifax, the UK bank.

Faster payments accounted for just 2.7 per cent of total volume of account transactions in 2014, up from 2.3 per cent in the previous year. However, such payments now account for £15 of every £100 spent, up from £12 in 2013.

Meanwhile both cash and cheques are showing a decline in both volume and share of every £100 spent.

The report says the rise of contactless, as well as online and mobile banking and P2P services such as Pingit, are making plastic and automated payments more convenient, and encouraging a move away from cash and cheques.

However, the bank is at a loss to explain why the number of transactions via faster payments is still relatively low, while the amount spent is pushing ahead, it told Mobile World Live.

Although Halifax has gathered customer data (the survey is based on its own customer usage), it has not commissioned any research to understand the rationale behind its customers’ behaviour, it said.

The decline in cash and cheque payments is easier to comprehend. Cash accounted for 17 per cent of current account transactions in 2014, down from 18 per cent the previous year. Cheques are only 1.2 per cent of all transactions, down from 1.5 per cent.

In terms of every £100 spent, cash fell to £18 this year, down from £20 in 2013. Cheques still account for £8 out of every £100, a fall from £9 the previous year.