The City of London Corporation has installed four new contactless card points to help the area’s homeless and rough sleeper population get donations from those that don’t carry cash.

Londoners will be able to donate £3 a time to homelessness charity Beam, by tapping their debit and credit cards on the contactless devices at the following locations:

• City of London Information Centre, St Pauls Churchyard.
• Barbican Library.
• Tower Bridge Engine Room.
• Guildhall West Wing reception window.

The campaign will run for three months, and if it is successful, more contact points could be rolled out across other City locations.

Marianne Fredericks, chairman of City of London Corporation’s homelessness and rough sleeping sub-committee, said: “In a culture where people are increasingly using their debit and credit cards and carrying very little cash, this is an effective and efficient way to help the most vulnerable in our society.

“The funds raised through these devices will go towards the essential, often life-saving work being carried out by Beam,” she continued, adding: “I hope City business will embrace this campaign and help provide even more locations for the alternative giving tap machines.”

In May last year, The Mayor of London partnered with iZettle to launch a contactless payments initiative for buskers in London.

The Swedish FinTech firm’s Repeat Payments feature allows street musicians across the capital to set a fixed amount on their iZettle Reader and accept continuous contactless contributions, whilst performing, as passers-by can tap to show their support.

This followed a student from Brunel University London developing a payment device that enabled buskers and street performers to accept contactless and mobile payments.

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