Contingency

On 6 October, POS terminals suffered an outage, leaving thousands of merchants unable to process card transactions. It is unclear whether this is due to a technical glitch or a cyber-attack.

Insurance company Lloyd's of London warns that a major cyberattack on the global payments system could cost USD3.5 trillion. Can cash come to the rescue?

Consumer research shows that cash payments are firmly rooted in French society. Cash is an enabler of social connections and is the preferred form of payment at small shops and for charity.

In a short period of time, the Covid 19 pandemic has caused immense human suffering and major economic damage. But what if Covid 19 was a virus that would infect the Internet and limit its functionality to such an extent that payment systems would no longer work? Preventive measures are needed to contain this danger.

James-Shepherd Barron analyses the use of the word "cash" and "money" in the aid world and calls for a better use of payments nomenclature to avoid confusion

Norway's Financial Undertakings Act of 2017 have been recently updated and continue to require banks to meet demand for cash.

A cashless society requires three things: electricity, communication networks and security. Recent events have shown that none of these are guaranteed. Dr. Jay Zagorsky recommends issuing high-denomination notes to increase resilience when emergencies occur.

Cash might be a symbol of national sovereignty, but it goes beyond that. It's an important tool for social inclusion, for education and is essential for places struck by a crisis.

Japanese banks are launching mobile ATMs with extended banking services in order to meet the needs of rural populations and to be ready in case of a natural disaster.

Cash is probably the most useful tools during a natural disaster: and banks know it. After Hurricane Harvey struck, local branches announced the imminent deployment of mobile banking branches as well as waived ATM and other fees.

As cash gets more and more attention from international humanitarian agencies, the OECD has decided to put its stamp of approval on the innovative form of assistance by publishing a guide on cash-based humanitarian response planning.

The payments industry has cleverly used the aid sector as a ruse, a Homeric ‘Trojan Horse’, to gain access to key governmental decision-makers around the world whom they would otherwise find difficult to reach. These contacts have been ruthlessly exploited to pursue their global ambition of a cashless society.