Understanding the Costs of Payments

CashEssentials will be holding a one-day research seminar entitled ‘Understanding the Costs of Payments’ in Madrid on the 20th of April 2020. The seminar will bring together economists, researchers, academics and paymentA transfer of funds which discharges an obligation on the part of a payer vis-à-vis a payee. More experts.

Measuring the costs of payments has always been a complex issue, and various studies have reached very different conclusions. At a time when the payment landscape is undergoing radical and potentially disruptive changeThis is the action by which certain banknotes and/or coins are exchanged for the same amount in banknotes/coins of a different face value, or unit value. See Exchange. More, we intend to have a debate on this topic with a group of researchers, academics, payments experts and economists.

Some of the key topics we aim to cover include:

• What costs should be measured: social costs, private costs, per-transaction costs?
• Is there an optimal methodology to measure the cost of payments?
• How sensitive are the cost estimates to changing assumptions and methodologies?
• What are the main cost drivers?
• Are costs related to the payments mix?
• Does less cashMoney in physical form such as banknotes and coins. More mean less costs?
• Should cost studies be supplemented by the benefits of cash (cost-benefit-study)?
• How have costs evolved over time?
• How do central bank policies (cash distributions policy, recirculationThe right to recirculate banknotes that have been checked for authenticity and sorted for fitness by banks and cash-in-transit companies. The right is normally based on rigorous rules established by the central bank. More, delegation, NHTO…) influence the cost of cashAlthough banknotes are delivered to the citizens free of charge and their use does not involve a specific fee, costs are generated during their manufacturing, storage and circulation process, which are covered by different social agents (central banks, commercial banks, retailers etc). More?
• How do commercial bank policies (branch network, ATM estates, fee policies…) influence the cost of cash?
• What about merchant acceptance and its influence on costs?
• Is there an optimal cost model?
• The cost of cash has been a benchmark for the pricing of digital payments. What happens in an ecosystem without cash?

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