2003年，信用卡消费额达到 2，440亿英镑。付款清算服务协会发言人说：“如果包括商业卡在内，那么今年信用卡的交易总额有望超过 2，690亿英镑。”

　　In terms of numbers of transactions, cash will remain much bigger than plastic for some time to come, he added. "Cash will always remain there for low-value payments."

　　就交易的数量来说，在未来一段时间内，现金交易还是会远远多于信用卡交易。发言人还补充说，“现金会继续作为小额款项的支付方式。”

　　Meanwhile, 2003 was the year that e-commerce "came of age" in the UK. More than 18 million people bought goods or services online, up 50% compared to 2002. Credit cards accounted for 69% of the 200 million transactions, with debit cards mopping up most of the remainder.

　　同时，2003年是英国电子商务走向成熟的一年。超过1, 800万人在网上购物或接受服务，比2002年增长了50%在 2亿笔交易中，使用信用卡的占69%，而剩下的部分几乎被借记卡囊括。

　　Last year was a landmark year for another reason-the first reduction in card fraud for eight years. Fraud losses on plastic cards fell by 5% to ￡402 million as measures to combat crooks started to take effect.

　　去年之所以是具有里程碑意义的一年，还有另外一个原因——8年来，信用卡诈骗事件首次有所缩减。由于打击信用卡诈骗的措施开始生效，信用卡诈骗的损失额降低了 5%，为4.02亿英镑。

　　A new generation of cards containing computer chips is being introduced, and by the end of this year most people making face-to-face purchases will have to type their four-digit Pin number into keypads at tills and will no longer have to sign receipts.

　　新一代内置电脑芯片的信用卡已经产生。今年年底，大部分人在进行面对面交易时，必须在收银台的键盘上输入自己的4位密码，再也不用签署收据了。