Cash is the most widely used payment instrument

The Italia Cashless initiative rewards those who do not use cash for their purchases. Users of credit cards, debit cards and payment apps will receive a refund of a part of their expenditure from the state.

The European Payments Council (EPC) Cash Efficiency Working Group (CEWG) has published some observations on trends and drivers for cash usage and related challenges for the cash cycle. The CEWG is responsible for formulating proposals for increasing the efficiency of cash handling and making recommendations for best practices to be shared within the entire SEPA community.

The ECB SPACE study investigates the Payment Attitudes of Consumers in the Euro Area in 2019. It concludes that 73% of Point-of-Sale and Person-to person payments were made using cash. In value terms, cash accounted for 48% of all transactions.

The dual role of currency both as a store of wealth and means of payment has never been more apparent, as the numbers that report cash on issue and cash use remain dramatically different.

According to the latest edition of the IFOP survey for Brink's France (27 and 28 0ctober, 2020), cash remains the most frequently used means of payment by the French. 79% of the population are opposed to its disappearance.

As cash payments have been declining during the pandemic, due to reduced economic activity and a shift towards online and contactless payments, consumers and citizens are increasingly calling for the right to access cash and its acceptance for payments.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, a steady flow of disinformation has distorted the role cash may play in spreading Covid-19. Now, Australia’s national science agency has published a controversial study suggesting that the virus could survive up to 28 days on banknotes in strict laboratory conditions. However, the study’s lead author, confusingly, is minimizing the infection risk presented in his own work.

A new report by H.E. Reimers, F. Schneider and F. Seitz analyses the determinants of cash holdings of private households in the euro area between 2002 and 2019 and aims to shed light on the complex relationship between cash holdings on the one hand and transaction volumes, store of value motives, alternative payment instruments, the size of the shadow economy and crisis-related as well as precautionary demand on the other.

This year has been very dramatic for the global society. The full effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are still unknown and depend on the length of the exceptional period in various parts of the world.

In his latest comprehensive study, former Bank of Israel Cash Department head, Mordechai Fein, explores and reveals the drivers behind people’s continuing, resolute use of cash, despite the global context of rapidly developing electronic payments.

As we celebrate World Wildlife Day on 3 March, enjoy and journey through an expedition of banknotes across the world featuring beautifully varied wild plants and animals.

Amidst the Coronavirus outbreak, China’s central bank is launching efforts to disinfect or replace banknotes which have been potentially in contact with the Coronavirus.