Guillaume Lepecq

As a growing part of the world shifts into lockdown, governments are identifying critical infrastructure industries that must continue operating to ensure public health and safety as well as national security.

As the coronavirus pandemic spreads, several central banks have now made strong statements emphasizing the importance of cash in this crisis.

As the coronavirus pandemic, spreads, it is fundamentally changing our hierarchy of values. Our perception of the future of money is now facing a new paradigm.

In Sweden, new legislation was enacted on 1 January requiring banks to provide cash services. The UK Treasury has announced it would also introduce new regulations to protect access to cash.

Patriarchy is alive and kicking including on banknotes. Women are featured on a minority of banknotes around the world but the situation is improving.

The future of cash is of obvious and critical importance for all stakeholders in the cash cycle but how do we actually anticipate the future? What tools, processes and models do we use?

The British Retail Consortium has published its latest Payment Survey which shows that credit card spending overtook cash spending in 2018. Debit cards remain the most popular method of payment, accounting for almost three-in-five transactions.

20 European banks are planning the launch of the Pan-European Payment System Initiative -PEPSI - to challenge the dominance of Visa and MasterCard in Europe and counter Big Tech firms.

Early October, LINK the UK's main ATM network inroduced a £1 million fund to support the installation of free-to-use cash machines in remote communities. In less than a month, over 100 applications were received.

In celebration of the 35th anniversary of the Australian Dollar, the Royal Australian Mint and Australia Post have launched a coin hunt, inviting children to collect 26 limited edition coins. The coins feature quintessentially Australian icons including didgeridoos, lamingtons and quokkas.

The Italian government is considering measures to reduce cash usage with the aim of fighting against tax evasion.

A surprising move for a company which is better known for waging a war on cash, Mastercard will now pay shops to dispense it to customers.

The European Payments Council publishes a revised version of its Recirculation Paper first published in June 2018. The paper aims to foster further cash efficiency particularly within the retail cash cycle, between consumers retailers and Payments Service Providers.

The European Consumer Association BEUC has published a position paper ‘Cash versus Cashless: Consumers need a right to use cash. The paper makes recommendations for EU level actions to ensure that consumers have a non-discriminatory right to access and use cash.

Cash in circulation is growing in most countries at a faster pace than GDP. But what factors are driving demand for cash ?

The US Congress has published a comprehensive analysis of the state of cash in the US and explores the implications of the decline of cash usage for payments.

The Deutsche Bundesbank reports that there is no evidence that restricting cash usage is effective in limiting the illegal use of cash

Demonetisation has not fought, but has largely strengthened the informal economy. It has also probably further marginalised those without supportive networks. With cashless policies flourishing in various parts of the world, these findings have major implications, seriously questioning their merit, especially among the most marginalised segments of the population.