More shoppers are using contactless cards to pay for goods during the Covid-19 pandemic to avoid handling cash and the need to put PIN numbers into a checkout keypad.

John Tester, the general manager of Pembroke-based point-of-sale equipment specialists GoPoint, said the change was part of a worldwide trend.

“It will be the way of the future. We are going to reduce our touchpoint on most equipment and technology, and that includes ATMs,” he predicted.

Mr Tester said people were definitely making more contactless payments, using cards fitted with RFID — radio frequency identification. The cards are held near a payment device in stores. Older style chip and pin cards need a PIN number typed into a keypad.

Lorraine Shailer, who heads the retail division of the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce, said the technology had been used for a few years in many stores, particularly larger ones, and it allowed shoppers to make purchases of $50 or less without the need to use a keypad.

She said: “There’s always a learning process, both for the retailer and the customer. But once everyone knows how to use it, they will start to forget that they operated any differently before.

“Overall, customers have got used to how it works, and we have got used to it.”

The MarketPlace supermarket chain has also seen an increased use of contactless payments. A spokesman said: “We are encouraging customers to utilise contactless payments when possible as an added safety measure for both our customers and our associates. We have no limits on those payments.”

HSBC Bermuda said all its clients now had debit and credit cards that allowed contactless transactions of $50 or under and Butterfield Bank was almost in the same position, except for a few “legacy” credit cards that were not tap-and-go equipped. But the bank said these would be upgraded as renewal cards were issued.

The Covid-19 crisis is said to have sped up shoppers’ move away from coins and notes in the UK, and a major ATM operator predicted that at the present rate of change, the country could become an almost cashless society inside two years.

US-based firm Research and Markets said contactless cards and mobile payments had grown and a survey had shown that nearly one-third of consumers had became first-time users of contactless payments during the pandemic, and the majority planned to continue using contactless payments post-Covid-19.

Mr Tester said Bermuda was well-placed to continue the expansion of contactless payment systems. But he added: “In a lot of other places the devices are provided by the banks. Here, you have to buy it yourself, so for the smaller retailer to spend money on a device in these times is a bit of a cost.

“But the technology is here, it is just getting it out there to the market.”

Mr Tester said the next wave of contactless payment technology would use thumbprint recognition — a method already used by a bank in the UK.