Cash is the most widely used payment instrument

During the last decade, money has experienced a huge wave of globalisation, mirroring the overall globalisation of the economy. But as protectionism is on the rise around the globe, will the payments industry be impacted?

Visa will pay shops to offer cashback in rural locations in the United Kingdom.

The Japanese government introduces incentives to promote electronic payments. The measure consists in a point-of-sale discount if approved digital payment are used. It poses challenges for the elderly and small shops.

Earlier in November, a Greek draft tax bill proposed to lower the limit for cash payments in from €500 to €300. The ECB declares that the threshold is disproportionate in light of the potentially adverse impact on the cash payment system.

Swiss payments services provider Six published a white paper on “The Future of Money”. The scenario-planning exercise designs seven medium-term scenarios, which all involve a sharp decline in cash demand or its disappearance. Meanwhile, the Swiss payment card network crashed on 19 November.

In its recent publication (‘The Cash Industry in Transition’), Currency Research makes the argument that the next decade, 2019–2029, will be one of dramatic worldwide change for the cash and payments industry. Some impacts of the changes in the payments landscape, like the decreasing share of cash in transactions, have been evident already a while, and have been confirmed in the payment studies conducted by several central banks. Also the interest in digital currencies among central banks has increased worldwide simultaneously with concerns regarding cybersecurity.

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.

It is often argued banks want to get rid of cash but here are ten reasons why they should support it.

Is cash condemned by cryptocurrencies, cards and other alternative payment methods?

For the first time, some researchers are claiming that the number of installed ATMs may have marginally declined worldwide, with key markets such as China, the USA, Japan, Brazil and India experiencing a lag in growth. However, in no way is this correlated to a decline in cash demand. The decline seems to be limited to a few major markets and could well be due to structural factors.

Banks, fintechs and payment solution providers have injected billions of dollars into blockchain based-projects, but according to a new report from the World Economic Forum and Accenture few projects have actually delivered the expected results.

Using evidence based on Aggregate and Household Survey Data, the 2019 Cash Usage Trends report investigates Japan's use of cash vis-à-vis non-cash payment options.