Launched in 2014 as a wearable wristband in 2014, BPay was one of the first significant efforts to move contactless payments beyond cards.

Since then, the technology has been used in a range of wearables but has failed to take off in the face of competition from a host of rivals, most notably Apple.

In response, as first reported by Bloomberg, Barclays has decided to hitch BPay to it far more popular Pingit app - which has more than 3.5 million users.

Soon, BPay and Pingit will be accessible via a single app, which the bank hopes will encourage more people to take up BPay.