Zapp, the newcomer that plans to offer mobile payments in the UK next year, will have 60 per cent coverage of the country’s merchants at launch, thanks to agreements with three leading payments processors.

The firm has the opportunity to pitch its service to the merchant customers of Optimal Payments, Realex and SagePay.

Together with an earlier agreement with WorldPay, Zapp gets to the 60 per cent coverage figure for merchants in the UK at launch in 2014.

The firm has the backing to strike this type of agreement since it is backed by VocaLink, itself a payments processor that is owned by the country’s leading banks and buildings societies.