The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructure consists of 14 Advanced Economy and 13 Emerging Market Economy countries. It collects extensive data on their cash and electronic payments and uses these to draw conclusions about payment trends.

The International Currency Association (ICA), representing the global currency sector, has published a Cash Policy White Paper, available on its website www.currencyassociation.org, which is summarised here. It wants policy makers to recognise that the benefits of cash to society may be lost without practical steps to protect the supply and acceptance of cash in society and promote its further development.

Cash Essentials has issued a report, ‘The Role of Cash in the Future Monetary Landscape’. Based on a Futures Literacy Lab hosted by Cash Essentials in collaboration with the UNESCO Chair for the Future of Finance at Ecole des Ponts Business School, in September 2022. The paper lays out how a Futures Literacy Lab works and seeks to understand the future of money.

While data about digital payments is usually good, measuring cash is problematic. Understanding cash usage is important for regulatory authorities. IMF Working Paper WP/23/62 explores the measurement of cash based on ATM cash withdrawals value as an alternative to the traditional cash in circulation as a proportion of GDP method.

The Bank of Canada (BOC) has published two survey reports in the last few months. The first was the Methods of Payment survey 2021 and the second the Merchant Acceptance Survey Pilot Study.

At the end of 2011, the Netherlands had 2,654 bank branches. At the end of 2021 this had fallen to 726, and not all of those provided over the counter cash services. At the same time, more than 4% of retailers now inform customers that they don’t accept cash.

Commercial banks are profit-seeking entities. Cost reduction to maximise profits and automation are core to achieving that. Bank branches and ATMs are expensive, hence the drive to close so many of them and, in the process, the ability to deposit and issue cash goes too. Merchants and the public are pushed towards going cashless, or at the very least, less-cash.

As noted in the December issue of Cash & Payment News™, the European Union has announced a set of new directives to limit the amount of cash and crypto transactions in a move, it says, that will crack down on money laundering and terrorist financing.

Sveriges Riksbank has issued its 2022 Payments Report into the retail payments market. The report underlines the wide-ranging activities of the Riksbank to support the needs of all sectors of society when it comes to payment.

The Dutch National Bank has issued a working paper considering the implications of moving to non-cash payment methods, if any.