Cash ensures competition among payment instruments

The U.S. Department of Justice is accusing Visa of stifling competition and inflating merchant fees. The lawsuit emphasizes the importance of cash as a mainstream payment method to ensure competition, affordability, privacy, and resilience in the payments landscape.

As the number of ATMs has significantly decreased in recent years, SIX and Diebold Nixdorf are entering into a cooperation to secure the long-term cash supply through ATM pooling. However, the Swiss Post also aims to be the sole ATM operator.

As a worldwide partner to the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Visa has a monopoly on all debit, credit and mobile payments. Spectators are venting their frustration. Paradoxically, the campaign demonstrates the importance of cash in terms of inclusion, protection of privacy and resilience.

A new opinion poll by Ifop for the Monnaie de Paris shows that cash remains the most trusted means of payment and that the level of attachment to cash is strengthening.

Visa and Mastercard will pay $197 million to settle a case brought by millions of consumers who withdrew cash from ATMs and accused the companies of anti-competitive behaviour.

U.S. consumers paid credit card issuers $130 billion in interest and fees in 2022. In March, the Biden Administration curbed excessive credit card late fees.

While the use of cash has declined in Australia, many still rely on cash for payments, including seniors, lower-income households, migrants, and rural inhabitants.

Australia’s cash infrastructure has contracted sharply in recent years. Banks and retailers have reduced cash services, even in urban areas.

Proposals from the financial services watchdog to protect and widen cash access are "a good start but could go further" argues the Federation of Small Businesses. Cash infrastructure should be considered a public good.

Over the past few months, outages have brought down card payments in France (Wordline), Spain (Redsys), the U.K. (HSBC), Colombia (Bancaída), Uruguay (Fiserv) and now Australia (Wordline), to name but a few. Lloyds of London has warned that a major cyberattack on the global payments system could cost the world economy USD3.5 trillion. Can cash come to the rescue?

The Royal Canadian Mint’s supply of coins has increased after the Covid-19 pandemic. Canadian retailers remain committed to accepting cash transactions.

For the first time in a decade, U.K. cash payments at the point of sale have increased as consumers turn to cash to better manage their budget during the cost-of-living crisis.