Cash and Crises

In our third episode of the Cash and Crises podcast series, James Shepherd-Barron, sits down with Tristan Dissaux, Researcher at Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, to discuss the meaning of financial inclusion and its importance in society.

Four months after the Taliban took over Kabul, the Afghan banking system is on the brink of collapse. Afghanistan direly needs physical cash to jumpstart its imploding economy.

After Hurricane Ida’s landfall on the coast of Louisiana, cash remained the most reliable payment instrument during disaster and relief recovery efforts.

In Kenya, currency in circulation increased by 30% during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, in spite of efforts to promote digital payments.

Hurricane Ida hit Louisiana in August, 16 years after Katrina. The financial and electronic payments infrastructure shut down due to power outages, leaving cash as the only functioning payment instrument.

In our second episode of the Cash and Crises podcast series, James Shepherd-Barron, sits down with Diederik Bruggink, Head of Innovation and Payments at the World Savings and Retail Banking Institute, to discuss why the cash cycle matters and its implications for developing economies.

Cash in circulation grew 20% in Egypt during the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the World Bank, three-quarters of Egyptians have not made a single digital payment.

A paper by Ashworth and Goodhart shows that the pandemic fuelled a remarkable surge in currency in circulation, with cash once again defying premature obituaries of its demise. In a major crisis people still want to retreat to the security and safety of holding bank notes, to provide reassurance.

The Better Than Cash Alliance’s ‘UN Principles for Responsible Digital Payments’ demonstrate that digital payments have a long way to go before they become better than cash in all aspects. More than ever, cash is essential in a diversified and sustainable monetary system.

In our first episode of the Cash and Crises podcast series, James Shepherd-Barron, sits down with the chairman of CashEssentials, Guillaume Lepecq to discuss the future of cash and its implications for developing economies.

Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, most Spanish consumers remain sceptical of digital payments. Several have faced problems paying with cash. Bank desertification in less populated areas has worsened during the pandemic.

Cash remains the most widely used and accepted payment instrument in Spain despite the Covid-19 pandemic. Younger, older, and rural consumers favour cash in their daily payments.