Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks offer mobile payments

Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank customers can now use Apple Pay to make online and in-store purchases - as long as they have an iPhone or an iPad.

The mobile payments service is designed to meet changing customer needs and complement B – a new digital banking service, powered by Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks that launched earlier this year.

Helen Page at the banks' parent company CYBG said: "Making Apple Pay available to our customers across Clydesdale Bank, Yorkshire Bank and B is the latest initiative in our omni-channel strategy to deliver better, sustainable services for customers and an enhanced customer experience."

However, Yorkshire and Clydesdale are just the latest UK banks to jump on the mobile payments bandwagon.

Barclays' mobile payments application Pingit hit its millionth business transaction in January - up from just 100,000 a year before - while consumers can also use apps such as Paym and Zapp to pay for goods and services using their phones.

The rise and rise of mobile payments

Some 20 million adults will use their mobiles to pay for goods and services by the end of the decade, according to the Centre for Economic and Business Research.

It expects the global value of mobile purchases to triple to £14.2 billion a year by 2018.

Speed and convenience are the main reasons their popularity is expected to grow so fast.

Research from international payment systems provider VocaLink shows that more than half of people would prefer to transfer money to friends or family via Immediate Payments, while four in 10 would like to pay urgent bills this way too.

How mobile payments work

Worried about using your phone to shop online or buy a sandwich in a coffee shop?

Never fear: once you have added your debit or credit card details to a payments app, it's quick and easy to make a purchase.

For online transactions with Apple Pay, for example, you can simply use Touch ID to verify the transaction using your finger or thumb print.

And while some people have reservations about disclosing their bank details to an application to get access to mobile payments, the service providers have gone to lengthy measures to ensure their apps are secure.

Paym's proxy platform, for example, identifies users via their mobile numbers, keeping data safely away from the app, and Zapp pledges to offer the same level of security as banking apps.