A new study by VocaLink, the UK payment infrastructure provider, found 19 per cent of smartphone users make point-of-sale payments on their device, an activity the company admits is still “relatively nascent”.

That figure is a significant advance from just six per cent in VocaLink’s last survey in 2013. However no definition is offered for what is a mobile payments user (once a day, month or year etc).

Confusion over how mobile payments works, as well as a lack of knowledge about which brands provide services, are both hampering adoption, the 2015 report concedes.

The opportunity exists for banks to fill the learning gap, argues VocaLink, which itself is backed by leading UK financial institutions, because mobile payments is seen by their customers as an extension of their existing relationship.

The survey found 47 per cent of respondents were more likely to use their own bank for m-pay, followed by 42 per cent for PayPal, 41 per cent for credit card provider such as Visa or MasterCard, 31 per cent for a service provider recommended by the user’s bank and 21 per cent favoured the government, strangely enough.

“It’s still anyone’s game,” said Cara O’Nions, VocaLink’s marketing director. Curiously absent is Apple, but O’Nions told Mobile World Live the research was conducted before the launch of Apple Pay in July.  “If we conducted the research now, it definitely would be on the list.”

VocaLink developed a m-commerce and point-of-sale transaction app called Zapp which will be launched by UK bank Barclays later this year.

The study was conducted by Illimunas, a research firm which interviewed more than 5,000 UK consumers.