Reports and Publications

A recent ECB paper assesses changes in cash circulation during the Covid-19 pandemic and examines the role of cash as a possible transmission vector of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

The latest Federal Reserve Diary of Consumer Payment Choice shows that in 2020, consumers made fewer payments and in particular less in-person payments. Consumers of all age and income groups have significantly increased their precautionary holdings of cash.

A new CashEssentials White paper challenges the notion of a singular digital future for money. It frames the discussion around the future of cash not only as a technological issue, but as a societal question with fundamental implications for inclusion, equality, resilience, efficiency and privacy.

A new CashEssentials report shows how technology and innovation can create a sustainable, future-proof cash cycle. The paper provides an overview of where we are in terms of CashTech innovation, and aims to encourage its continuation, by supporting the work of innovators, start-ups and scale-ups.

The ECB paper ‘Foreign demand for euro banknotes’ provides a thorough analysis of the drivers for international demand and estimates that between 30 and 50% of the total value of banknotes circulate outside the euro zone.

This glossary is designed first and foremost as an educational tool. It aims to help the cash community use the right word in the right situation.

A new study by De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) concludes that cash plays an essential role in society. The cash infrastructure is under pressure and this threatens the access to and acceptance of cash as a means of payment. DNB has therefore commissioned an external study on the future sustainability of the cash infrastructure.

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 review analyses the acceleration of the ‘cash paradox’ during the pandemic: declining cash transactions and increasing precautionary demand for banknotes. It also publishes the findings of laboratory testing on the risks of transmission of Covid-19 via banknotes.

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.

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.

The pandemic has seen a sharp acceleration in payment fraud. But this is not a new phenomenon. A report based on 2014-2018 data for 52 countries provides a comprehensive taxonomy of payment fraud for both cash and electronic payments and offers an empirical estimation of the value of fraud with cash and cards.