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Electronic Payments Exceeded Cash for First Time in Saudi Arabia, 2021
Electronic Payments Exceeded Cash for First Time in Saudi Arabia, 2021
Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) issued a report on the results of an extensive study conducted to measure used payment methods in the Kingdom during 2021, which aimed to assess consumer payment habits (cash and non-cash), across all market sectors; individuals, business, and the government sector. The study indicated that - for the first time in the Kingdom - cash is no longer the most used method of payment by individuals, as electronic payments of individuals have grown significantly to reach 57% in 2021 of the total number of transactions executed, compared to just 36% in 2019.
#MiddleEast#Payments#Fintech#Cash#DFC
·sama.gov.sa·
Electronic Payments Exceeded Cash for First Time in Saudi Arabia, 2021
Latin America: Financial Inclusion and CashTech Solutions
Latin America: Financial Inclusion and CashTech Solutions
Most Latin American consumers remain conspicuous cash users. Thus, CashTech could be very successful as specialists are looking for ways to bridge the gap between the digital economy and the cash economy, and many incumbents and startups have launched CashTech solutions in the region. For examples, banks have implemented cardless cash withdrawals through their apps, Amazon allows users in the region to pay for goods with cash through Amazon PayCode and Amazon Cash, and retail chain OXXO, which provides cash and correspondent banking services in its more than 19,000 stores in Mexico, has partnered with BBVA and Santander to offer cash-withdrawal services and with Ria Money Transfer to delivers cash remittances.
#Fintech#Cash#CashTech#DFC
·cashessentials.org·
Latin America: Financial Inclusion and CashTech Solutions
Easier said than done: why Italians pay in cash while preferring cashless
Easier said than done: why Italians pay in cash while preferring cashless
The Banca d'Italia published a paper that, based on data from a 2019 ECB survey of consumers, studies the determinants of Italian consumers' payment choices at the physical point of sale (POS). The study also assesses the reasons why consumers mainly use cash for their payments although they would prefer to use other instruments, such as cards. The acceptance of cashless instruments at the point of sale and the value of the transaction are the main factors influencing payment choice. Men and residents in Northern and Central Italy pay with cards more than women and residents in Southern Italy, but these gaps narrow among people with digital skills. Consumers pay in cash, even though they would prefer to use a different payment instrument, due to a lack of acceptance of cashless instruments by merchants.
#Fintech#Payments#Cash#Europe#Italy#DFC
·bancaditalia.it·
Easier said than done: why Italians pay in cash while preferring cashless
Anti-money laundering: EU Council agrees its position on a strengthened rulebook
Anti-money laundering: EU Council agrees its position on a strengthened rulebook
"By limiting large cash payments, the EU will make it harder for criminals to launder dirty money. An EU-wide maximum limit of €10.000 is set for cash payments. Member states will have the flexibility to impose a lower maximum limit if they wish."
#Fintech#Cash#Regulation#FinancialIntegrity#AMLCFT#Europe#DFC
·consilium.europa.eu·
Anti-money laundering: EU Council agrees its position on a strengthened rulebook
Digital payments make gains but cash remains
Digital payments make gains but cash remains
The Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) published a brief that documents the acceleration of consumers' and businesses' migration away from cash and checks towards electronic payments, and a growing use of contactless and fast payments. The Covid-19 pandemic was likely responsible for the surge but at the same time, public demand for cash remains steady,  both as a means of payment and as a safe haven.
#Fintech#Cash#Payments#FastPayments#ContactLessPayment#DFC
·bis.org·
Digital payments make gains but cash remains
De La Rue slashes forecasts as banknote demand tumbles
De La Rue slashes forecasts as banknote demand tumbles
British banknote printer De La Rue has warned that its profits will miss full-year forecasts as demand for fresh cash fell to its weakest level in 20-years. It also said it was in discussions with its lenders to seek “an amendment to its banking covenants”. Last year, De La Rue found itself in a fight with its auditor after a “going concern warning” because of what EY said was a “severe but plausible downside scenario” where if the group lost key currency contracts, it would breach a debt covenant on the group’s credit facility.
#Fintech#Cash#DFC
·ft.com·
De La Rue slashes forecasts as banknote demand tumbles
US : Consumer Payment Behaviour Consistent with Early Pandemic
US : Consumer Payment Behaviour Consistent with Early Pandemic
The U.S. Federal Reserve's 2023 Findings from the Diary of Consumer Payment Choice show that cash payments declined to 18% of all payments in 2022 from 20% in 2021 (and 30% in 2016). During the same time frame, the credit cards share increased to 31% from 28% (31%). Debit cards have remained roughly stable (29% in 2022). The mobile payments share was less than 1%. Average store-of-value cash holdings of $418 in 2022 were little changed from 2021, but up significantly from the 2016 average of $173. https://www.frbsf.org/cash/publications/fed-notes/2023/may/2023-findings-from-the-diary-of-consumer-payment-choice/
#Fintech#Payments#Cash#UnitedStates#DFC
·cashessentials.org·
US : Consumer Payment Behaviour Consistent with Early Pandemic
Netherlands : the Government Plans to Legislate to Protect Cash
Netherlands : the Government Plans to Legislate to Protect Cash
In April 2022, twenty-three Dutch organisations, including major Dutch banks, signed a Cash Covenant, seeking to ensure that cash continues to function as a payment instrument in the face of a steady increase in electronic payments. The Ministry of Finance and De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) then commissioned a study on the future system for banknote and coin deposits and withdrawals for consumers and retailers. The Finance Minister has now presented the results of the study to Parliament, concluding that legal intervention is needed to ensure that cash remains usable, available, accessible and affordable for users.
#Fintech#Cash#DFC
·cashessentials.org·
Netherlands : the Government Plans to Legislate to Protect Cash
10 reasons to fight cashless contagion
10 reasons to fight cashless contagion
"Cash can co-exist with cards and apps, and when kept in balance, the different forms of payment can complement each other. It’s only when that balance is removed that the dark side of digital payments gets to flourish. Unfortunately, across the world we’re seeing the spread of so-called ‘cashlessness’, a type of contagion in which the option to pay with non-corporate and non-automated money is incrementally taken away from you. The fight against cashless society, then, is a fight against a state of unbalance. I’ve campaigned on this for eight years now, and in this piece I’ll lay out 10 talking points that you can use to make even the most ardent card-tapper have second thoughts about a totally bank-dominated society."
#Fintech#Cash#DFC
·brettscott.substack.com·
10 reasons to fight cashless contagion
In praise of anti-money laundering thresholds
In praise of anti-money laundering thresholds
"The original $10,000 cash reporting threshold was set back in 1945 by Henry Morgenthau, a level that was ratified in 1972 after the passage of the Bank Secrecy Act. This level has never been adjusted. (Morgenthau also set a second and lower $1,000 threshohold, but this only applied when banknotes in denominations of $50 or higher were involved). Alas, inflation has been steadily eating into each thresholds' real value. When the Bank Secrecy Act was passed, $10,000 was worth $75,000 in today's dollars. In Morgenthau's time it was equal to $173,000. Either way, when the data collection apparatus was first established and the Pragmatic Compromise reached, most people's day-to-day cash withdrawals and deposits would have been sheltered from reported requirements. With the passage of time and inflation, a much wider swathe of civilian cash transactions have lost the protection offered by Morgenthau's $10,000 threshold. That means more snooping. It also means more debanking. Rather than absorbing the growing compliance costs of having "risky" cash-reliant customers, banks are closing accounts"
#Fintech#Cash#AMLCFT#FinCEN#FinancialIntegrity#JPKoning#DFC
·jpkoning.blogspot.com·
In praise of anti-money laundering thresholds
How Far Do Canadians Need to Travel to Access Cash?
How Far Do Canadians Need to Travel to Access Cash?
"This paper develops a travel-based metric to measure Canadians’ access to cash from automated banking machines (ABMs) and financial institution branches. Our findings indicate that the average distance Canadians need to travel to reach the nearest ABM is 2.0 km, while the average distance to the nearest branch is 4.5 km. Moreover, more than 90% of Canadians live within 5 km of an ABM, and 84% live within 5 km of a branch. The total number of ABMs in Canada increased by 3.7% between 2019 and 2022, and our results show that, overall, access to cash remained stable in that period. However, the total number of branches decreased by 5.2%. The decline in branch coverage is concentrated in rural areas at 7.2%. This may increase the challenge of accessing cash in these regions. Rural Canadians already have less access to cash: they need to drive an average distance of 4.0 km to the nearest ABM and 9.6 km to the nearest branch, each distance twice the national average."
#Fintech#Cash#Canada#ATMs#DFC
·bankofcanada.ca·
How Far Do Canadians Need to Travel to Access Cash?
The Evolution of Consumer Payments in Australia
The Evolution of Consumer Payments in Australia
The Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA's) Consumer Payment Survey showed that Australians making in-person payments with cash has dropped from 32% of total payments in 2019 to 16% in 2022. Just over half did not use cash at all in 2022, up from about one-third in 2019. However, around 5% use cash for all in-person payments, privacy and security or budgeting. 29% of Australians hold no cash on their person versus 22% in 2019. The share of people holding cash in other places was unchanged from 2019 at around 40%, consistent with precautionary or store-of-wealth demand. This is seen most in the growth of high denomination banknotes in circulation.
#Fintech#Cash#Australia#DFC
·rba.gov.au·
The Evolution of Consumer Payments in Australia
Shaping the Future of Cash in an Uncertain World
Shaping the Future of Cash in an Uncertain World
"The Future of Cash conference in Istanbul saw some big conversations about cash today and its future. The mood was more upbeat this year as transactional demand for cash has primarily rebounded from the lows of the pandemic, and the access to cash agenda has gathered pace in countries facing the reality of less cash."
#Fintech#Cash#DFC
·cashessentials.org·
Shaping the Future of Cash in an Uncertain World
Four European takes on open banking
Four European takes on open banking
"In our overview of open banking in Europe, we look at what open banking really means in Europe relative to the rest of the world and caveat that its evolution into open finance is more than just about expanded scope. We then justify our choice to focus on the Netherlands, France, Spain and Switzerland instead of on Europe’s top-four open banking performers of Sweden, Denmark, Norway and the UK."
#Fintech#Payments#Cash#OpenBanking#Switzerland#Netherlands#France#Spain#MasterCard#DFC
·mastercardservices.com·
Four European takes on open banking
UK Sees Cash Transactions Rebound
UK Sees Cash Transactions Rebound
The British Retail Consortium’s (BRC) Payments Survey 2023 shows that cash transactions grew in 2023 for the first time in a decade, both by volume and value. According to the Bank of England (BOE), cash in circulation has declined very slightly (-0.45%) in 2023, but the value of the £20 denomination which is the most widely used transactional note increased by 3.6%. The BRC says that “this reflects a choice by many households to use cash to budget more carefully during the onset of the cost of living crisis, as well as a natural return to cash usage following the move to contactless during Covid.”
#Fintech#Cash#DFC
·cashessentials.org·
UK Sees Cash Transactions Rebound
Understanding the Post-pandemic Demand for Australia's Banknotes
Understanding the Post-pandemic Demand for Australia's Banknotes
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) published an article that examines the value of banknotes used for each component of cash demand and how it has changed since the COVID-19 pandemic. The estimated share of banknotes used for transactions in Australia has declined by around 5 percentage points since early 2020. We estimate that of all the banknotes currently in circulation, 9–26% are used for transactional purposes, 5–9% are lost, 7–11% are used in the shadow economy, and 55–80% are hoarded domestically or internationally.
#Fintech#Cash#Australia#DFC
·rba.gov.au·
Understanding the Post-pandemic Demand for Australia's Banknotes
Methods-of-Payment Survey Report: Cash Use Over 13 Years
Methods-of-Payment Survey Report: Cash Use Over 13 Years
The Bank of Canada published the results from the 2022 Methods-of-Payment Survey, including updated payment shares based on a three-day shopping diary. It highlights long-term trends in cash holdings, management and use observed across results from previous surveys in 2009, 2013 and 2017. It also reviews recent trends relating to the COVID-19 pandemic using data from 2020 and 2021. Then the paper assesses various factors associated with long-term trends in cash use.
#Fintech#Cash#Payments#Canada#DFC
·bankofcanada.ca·
Methods-of-Payment Survey Report: Cash Use Over 13 Years
The Eurosystem policy response to developments in retail payments
The Eurosystem policy response to developments in retail payments
The Eurosystem has a mandate to promote the smooth functioning of the payment system from a holistic perspective. From the perspective of retail payments, the smooth functioning of the payment system means ensuring that, in their tangible interaction with the euro, people and businesses are able to make safe and efficient payments and thus their trust in the currency is maintained. To this end, the Eurosystem is responsible for issuing public money, currently in the form of cash, which may possibly be complemented by a digital version, i.e. a digital euro. In addition, the Eurosystem can act: (i) as a catalyst for change, promoting efficiency in the field of retail payments; (ii) as overseer, setting retail payment standards and rules and ensuring compliance; and (iii) as an operator, having the possibility to set up public infrastructures. The trends at work in the retail payments landscape have the potential to bring benefits to consumers and businesses alike. However, they also carry risk and will require the Eurosystem to take action in its different capacities. This article looks at the changing retail payments ecosystem, before turning to the Eurosystem’s multi-faceted policy response and providing perspectives on the way ahead.
#Fintech#Payments#Cash#Eurozone#DFC
·ecb.europa.eu·
The Eurosystem policy response to developments in retail payments
COVID-19 Hasn’t Killed Merchant Cash Acceptance in Canada
COVID-19 Hasn’t Killed Merchant Cash Acceptance in Canada
To better understand trends in payment methods accepted by Canadian businesses, including cash acceptance and the impact of innovations such as mobile payments, the Bank of Canada conducts the Merchant Acceptance Survey, a survey of small and medium-sized businesses. It finds that 96% of these businesses in Canada accepted cash in 2023. Acceptance of debit and credit cards has increased since 2021 to 89%, and acceptance of digital payments has increased as well. However, the vast majority of merchants (92%) have no plans to go cashless in the future.
#Fintech#Cash#Payments#Canada#DFC
·bankofcanada.ca·
COVID-19 Hasn’t Killed Merchant Cash Acceptance in Canada
Going cashless has turned Sweden into a high-crime nation?
Going cashless has turned Sweden into a high-crime nation?
Financial crime has become a growing risk for Sweden, with criminals taking 1.2 billion kronor in 2023 through scams, doubling from 2021. And law-enforcement agencies estimate that the size of Sweden’s criminal economy could amount to as high as 2.5% of the country’s gross domestic product. A Fortune article links these developments to switch from cash to electronic payments, and the pervasiveness of the BankID system that speeds such transactions up. It requires a six-digit code, a fingerprint or a face scan for authentication, but the system is being abused by fraudsters and scammers. Some are calling for banks to bear a bigger share of the burden when customers are defrauded, as will be the case in the United Kingdom, where, starting in October, banks will have to reimburse customers who have been conned into making transfers.
#Fintech#Cash#Payments#CyberCrime#Sweden#DFC
·fortune.com·
Going cashless has turned Sweden into a high-crime nation?
Worldpay Global Payments Report 2024
Worldpay Global Payments Report 2024
WorldPay published the 2024 edition of its Global Payment Report. It reports that the ubiquitous acceptance of digital wallets is enabling greater consumer choice and control in this era of payments innovation. According to the findings, digital wallets accounted for $13.9 trillion in global transaction value in 2023, representing half of all online and 30% of consumer spend at point-of-sale (POS). In markets where credit and debit cards already had strong consumer attachment, the data suggests consumers remain loyal to these cards, choosing to connect them to their digital wallets. Although cash usage continues to decline, cash accounted for 16% of global transaction value, including double-digit share in 30 of 40 markets in this report.
#Fintech#Payments#Cash#DFC
·corporate.worldpay.com·
Worldpay Global Payments Report 2024
FCA finalises access to cash rules
FCA finalises access to cash rules
Under new rules from the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), banks and building societies will need to weigh up if local communities lack access to cash services, like branches and ATMs, and plug significant gaps. Under the new rules banks will need to respond to local residents and community organizations when closing branches and ATMs and provide an assessment of whether there are gaps in local cash access. Where significant gaps are found, banks will be obliged to retain branches and ATMs until alternative solutions are found. https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/fca-confirms-plan-protect-access-cash-consumers-and-small-businesses
#Fintech#Cash#UnitedKingdom#Regulation#DFC
·finextra.com·
FCA finalises access to cash rules
Payment behavior in Germany in 2023
Payment behavior in Germany in 2023
The Deutsche Bundesbank (BuBa) published an analysis of how people pay in Germany, based on approximately 5,700 randomly selected members of the public aged 18 and over between September and November 2023. Of payment volumes, debit cards accounted for 32%, cash for 26%, transfers and direct debits 20%, credit cards 10%, and mobile payments 6%. In general, 44% of respondents prefer to pay with electronic payment methods, but 24% still prefer cash, and 94% of merchants accept cash at point of sale. The perceived benefits of cash include privacy preservation (63%), immediate and reliable settlement of payments (47%), and easy expense overview (41%).
#Fintech#Payments#Cash#Germany#DFC
·bundesbank.de·
Payment behavior in Germany in 2023
European Central Banks Warn Citizens to Have Cash "Under the Mattress"
European Central Banks Warn Citizens to Have Cash "Under the Mattress"
It seems that more and more central banks in Europe are rediscovering one of the beauties of cash: its resilience. It won’t fail in a power cut or seize up during a cyber attack (although, of course, ATMs might). As Brett Scott, author of Cloudmoney: Cash, Cards, Crypto and the War for our Wallets, notes , any society that runs purely on digital platforms operated by large financial institutions “is going to have major resiliency problems.”
#Cash#Fintech#Europe#DFC
·nakedcapitalism.com·
European Central Banks Warn Citizens to Have Cash "Under the Mattress"
How do Canadians perceive access to cash?
How do Canadians perceive access to cash?
This paper introduces a subjective measure of cash accessibility in Canada, complementing existing distance-based metrics developed by Chen, O’Habib and Xiao (2023). Analyzing data from the 2023 Methods-of-Payment Survey, this study explores how Canadians perceive their ease of accessing cash from automated banking machines (ABMs) and financial institution branches. The results reveal strong alignment between subjective perceptions and distance-based metrics, with most Canadians reporting easy access to cash sources. Those who reported lower perceived cash accessibility need to travel longer distances and tend to be young, university-educated, low-income, unemployed or cashless.
This paper introduces a subjective measure of cash accessibility in Canada, complementing existing distance-based metrics developed by Chen, O’Habib and Xiao (2023). Analyzing data from the 2023 Methods-of-Payment Survey, this study explores how Canadians perceive their ease of accessing cash from automated banking machines (ABMs) and financial institution branches. The results reveal strong alignment between subjective perceptions and distance-based metrics, with most Canadians reporting easy access to cash sources. Those who reported lower perceived cash accessibility need to travel longer distances and tend to be young, university-educated, low-income, unemployed or cashless.
#Fintech#Cash#Canada#DFC
·bankofcanada.ca·
How do Canadians perceive access to cash?
Cash Bill Pay Services and U.S. Payment Inclusion
Cash Bill Pay Services and U.S. Payment Inclusion
The U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City published a paper by Franklin Noll on "cash bill pay" services that allows consumers to make digital (e.g., bill) payments with cash at participating retailers. A recent Atlanta Fed survey found that American consumer preferences to pay with cash remain pervasive for various reasons, including the costs and other impediments involved in moving to digital payments, lack of needed identification, former credit or banking problems, and the desire for privacy. The article goes on to describe the two main cash bill pay service (“walk-up” and “barcode") consumer experiences, and the costs that may make the service expensive for some.
#Cash#DFC
·kansascityfed.org·
Cash Bill Pay Services and U.S. Payment Inclusion
Cash-back Fees
Cash-back Fees
The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published a report on consumers’ use of "cash back" services. While people use various means of getting cash, one common method is to get “cash back” at a store when making a purchase with a debit or prepaid card. This option may be particularly important in banking deserts and in areas where banks and ATM operators charge significant fees. Retailers are essentially filling a void in access to cash, which has historically been supplied by banks and credit unions in an affordable way, and some retailers charge a fee for these transactions.
#Fintech#Cash#UnitedStates#DFC
·consumerfinance.gov·
Cash-back Fees
Cash Bill Pay in the US. What is it?
Cash Bill Pay in the US. What is it?
Cash Bill Pay is a way to pay bills (like utilities, toll charges, etc.) in cash at a local retailer. With Walk-Up, a customer goes to a retailer's customer service desk with their biller's name and their account number. This info is entered into some software, the customer hands over cash to pay the bill, and gets a receipt as proof of payment. CheckFreePay, Western Union, and MoneyGram are some of the Walk-Up Cash Bill Pay providers. With Barcode, a customer presents a barcode either on a document or on a mobile phone to a retailer's cashier who scans it with a POS device. This barcode provides the needed information for the transaction. The customer hands over cash to pay the bill and gets a receipt as proof of payment. VanillaDirect, PayNearMe, KUBRA EZ-PAY are some of the Barcode Cash Bill Pay providers. The importance of Cash Bill Pay is that it provides a bridge for cash-preferred customers to make digital payments. It allows them to use cash and have face to face transactions. The usual fee charged the customer per transaction in the US is between $1 and $4. The rise of Cash Bill Providers also points to the growing trend of businesses not to accept cash directly but of farming cash payments out to third parties. [Franklin Noll on LinkedIn]
However, the rise of Cash Bill Providers also points to the growing trend of businesses not to accept cash directly but of farming cash payments out to third parties.
#Fintech#Cash#CashTech#FinancialInclusion#UnitedStates#DFC
·linkedin.com·
Cash Bill Pay in the US. What is it?
The Shift in China's CBDC (Digital Yuan) Policy and Key Implications (JRI)
The Shift in China's CBDC (Digital Yuan) Policy and Key Implications (JRI)
Japan Research Institute (JRI) published a paper that analyzes China’s decision in late 2025 to shift the digital yuan (e‑CNY) from a non‑interest‑bearing central bank digital currency (CBDC) to an interest‑bearing commercial bank liability integrated into reserve requirements and deposit insurance (i.e., functionally a tokenized deposit). It argues this redesign aims to align bank balance‑sheet incentives, move usage toward corporate and cross‑border payments, and better plug into the mBridge cross‑border infrastructure as part of a strategy to deepen renminbi‑denominated settlement outside the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) system. Unresolved issues include whether this deposit‑based model can achieve scale amid entrenched super‑app payments, opaque mBridge usage, and continued constraints on non‑official digital currencies in China. [JRI]
#CBDC#China#DepositTokens#wCBDC#DFC
·web.archive.org·
The Shift in China's CBDC (Digital Yuan) Policy and Key Implications (JRI)
Engaging with Privacy Stablecoins: A Framework for Scalable and KYC/AML-Compliant Adoption (BoI)
Engaging with Privacy Stablecoins: A Framework for Scalable and KYC/AML-Compliant Adoption (BoI)
The Bank of Italy (BoI) Financial Intelligence Unit published a paper that examines the potential of privacy-preserving stablecoins ("privacy stablecoins") as retail payment instruments. It argues that stablecoins currently operating on public Layer-1 blockchains face structural limitations in terms of scalability, regulatory compliance, and privacy protection. Privacy-enhancing Layer-2 architectures may help overcome these constraints by combining greater operational efficiency with mechanisms that reconcile user confidentiality and regulatory oversight. The paper proposes a framework that relies on rollup‑based Layer‑2 designs with validity‑proof systems, data‑availability guarantees, and rule‑based selective disclosure to reconcile privacy with auditable reserves and enforceable financial integrity. [BoI]
#CryptoAssets#Fintech#AMLCFT#DFC#Privacy#Stablecoins
·web.archive.org·
Engaging with Privacy Stablecoins: A Framework for Scalable and KYC/AML-Compliant Adoption (BoI)