While consumer payments are changing, cash continues to flourish. However, there is a need to address some of inefficiencies in cash handling if cash is to thrive.

Research has found that paying with cash is associated with pain and that people tend to spend less using cash rather than a payment card.

As the global payments landscape evolves, Asia’s currency trends offer invaluable insights into the future of cash and digital payments. This analysis by De La Rue’s Richard Sokl, who also spoke about this at the HSP Asia conference, considers the dynamics of cash’s enduring role, the challenges posed by the digital divide, and how currency strategies are adapting to meet diverse needs.

The headlines in the European Central Bank’s (ECB) 2024 study on the payment attitudes of consumers in the euro area (SPACE) paint an interesting picture for cash payments, both alone and relative to other payment instruments.

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.