Access to cash has become a key area of interest for central banks. The Bank of Canada has compared subjective perceptions of cash accessibility with distance based metrics and published their findings in a staff analytical note.

The International Mint Industry Association (IMIA) has seven European mints as full members and seven associate members. It has recently issued a brief that argues for pro-active policies to safeguard cash payments to ensure European crisis resilience. Although some of the arguments are European specific, the broad thesis has wider relevance.

A recent blog by Sam Bobeov and Fintech Wrap on Payment : Unpacked asked who gets left behind in a cashless world.

As a worldwide partner to the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Visa has a monopoly on all debit, credit and mobile payments. Spectators are venting their frustration. Paradoxically, the campaign demonstrates the importance of cash in terms of inclusion, protection of privacy and resilience.

The Bank of Canada has issued a staff discussion paper considering the role of retail public money at a time when new technology and new participants, some non-financial firms, are entering the process of money creation.

At the recent Cash Sustainability Forum, held in Frankfurt last month, Ian Woolford, Head of Money and Cash at the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, gave a presentation on the country’s impending community cash services trial.

A recent McKinsey survey in Latin America found that the number of people who said cash was their preferred payment method had halved between 2021 and 2023.

There have been a series of press reports about cash over the last few weeks. Put them together and a story emerges of what a society going cashless looks like.

The International Association of Currency Affairs (IACA) is 20 years old this year. At the Banknote Conference in Fort Worth, Texas last month it held a session on ‘Cash Visibility and Collaboration’, which was a full house with nearly 120 people attending. Even with 77 member organisations drawn from central banks and suppliers, this turnout was exceptional.

The Bank of Canada carries out regular Methods of Payment surveys to measure payment method adoption, use at the point of sale and perceptions about payment methods. This helps the Bank with its management of banknotes and understanding of digital currencies and may help with its work on a possible CBDC.