Google plans to launch Android pay in the UK “in the next few months”. The move was revealed in a blog posted by Google’s senior director, product management, Pali Bhat.

Android Pay will support MasterCard and Visa credit and debit cards from Bank of Scotland, First Direct, Halifax, HSBC, Lloyds Bank, M&S Bank, MBNA and Nationwide Building Society, with other banks to follow.

It will be accepted anywhere contactless payments are accepted, including Starbucks, Greggs, KFC, Costa Coffee, Waitrose and on Transport for London (TfL) tubes and buses. It will also work as a payment method in some apps, including
JD Sports, Deliveroo and YPlan.

In the US meanwhile, Google says it is seeing 1.5m new registrations for Android Pay each month. Android Pay is accepted in the US in Best Buy, Peet’s Coffee & Tea, and Rubio’s, and in apps including Eat24, Eventbrite, and Ticketmaster.

Judo Payments CEO Dennis Jones welcomed the move. He said: “Android Pay will continue the building momentum of payments moving to mobile devices that we have been experiencing in the UK over the past few years. Adding Android users to the mix of devices which support secure in-app payments, in addition to Apple Pay, levels the playing field for both core mobile platforms. This will incentivise much greater investment from businesses in harnessing the awesome power of the computers in our pockets. With Android’s 54 per cent estimated market share in the UK, we’re going to see a huge rise in people making payments on the move and in-store with just a tap of their mobile”.