Barclays Launches bPay Bands Wearable Payment Solution

The fear of losing your credit card may no longer haunt you as you may soon be wearing them as wristbands and swipe them to pay for everything you purchase in a day from your morning coffee to gym membership.

Barclays, a London-based multinational banking and financial services company, has developed a wearable device that can act as your virtual wallet and give cashless transactions a boost.

Called bPay bands, they can be just swiped by the wearer over a terminal at a shop or pay point on the bus or station platform to make a purchase.

The waterproof bands, that can be worn all day long, contain a computer chip and micro-aerial to communicate with terminals.

They can also replace conventional plastic cards by allowing people to make purchases much more quickly than normal because users do not need to use a four-digit PIN.

"The money or information you need during the day will be integrated into a single device like bPay band from your travel card to your gym membership to the money for your coffee and lunch," a Barclays spokesman was quoted as saying in media reports.

According to Valerie Soranno Keating, chief executive officer of Barclaycard, the firm is working with retailers and consumers to win acceptance of the technology.