Monthly active users of PayPal app in the UK 2017-2021

Monthly active users (MAU) of the PayPal app for Apple and Android mobile phones in the UK grew by around one million since April 2020. From February 2017 onwards, the number of MAU’s of the PayPal app in the UK has been on a downward trend, reaching a low of around 2.05 million MAU’s in April 2020.

Online banking in Great Britain

The penetration of online banking in Great Britain in the period between 2007 to 2020 has been continually increasing. In 2020, online banking has become the norm rather than the exception, with 76 percent of respondents stating they use online banking. Compared to 2007, this is a 46 percentage point increase in the number of people utilizing online banking services. As of March 2018, the most popular online banking app was Barclay’s Mobile Banking. Approximately seven million persons are users of the Barclay’s mobile app each month in the UK. Out of all age groups surveyed in the UK, young millennials, or those aged being 18 and 26 years old, were the most frequent users who switched to online mobile apps for banking payments from 2018 to 2019. In 2019, 41 percent of young millennials reported using online mobile apps, up nine percent from the year prior. Whereas only five percent of baby boomers reported using online banking mobile apps in 2019.

Reason for preferring cashless payments

As with online banking apps, many UK consumers also prefer paying with online methods such as digital or e-wallets. In 2019, of those UK consumers surveyed, 51 percent stated they prefer digital wallets over other payment methods due to its convenience. This is not surprising as most persons almost always have their phones with them and paying via digital wallets means less time rummaging through pockets, purses and wallets in order to find the correct card or amount.