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

The end of the ‘cash era’, announced by The Economist 15 years ago, has not arrived. On the contrary, in a contactless but crisis-ridden world, cash is leaving wallets and taking refuge in mattresses. This article from Marc Schwartz, Chairman and CEO of Monnaie de Paris, was first published by Cash Essentials.

Innovation in contactless payment technology, the COVID-19 pandemic, increased e-commerce, and enhanced transparency, security, and convenience have transformed the retail payment markets in the last few years.

The Reserve Bank of Australia has published an article in its Bulletin about cash usage. The article starts by explaining that transactional demand is hard to calculate and then goes on to use four different methods to establish a range of estimates.

On 30 June 2022, Italy introduced a law fining merchants €30, plus 4% of the transaction value, if they did not accept a card payment. This law, along with vigorous promotion of card payments, has led Italy to having some of the highest rates of card accepting merchants per million inhabitants in Europe.

India’s economy has, like most countries, been buffeted by unexpected shocks over the last few years. Cash was disrupted by the November 2016 demonetisation exercise and by the pandemic.

An International Monetary Fund paper uses data from Uganda to understand whether digital payment innovations, particularly mobile money payments, will increase financial inclusion and if it will reduce people’s preference for cash.

For the first time in years, cash usage has risen in the UK, and not by a small percentage. The British Retail Consortium conducts an annual Payments Survey which covers 35% of the UK’s retailers, and this is the first time since it started the survey in 2013 that it has seen an increase.

Danmarks Nationalbank has carried out an analysis of the role of cash in a low cash usage society.

A Payments Canada survey has found that 31% of Canadians use cash for day-to-day purchases, with speed (38%), wide acceptance (38%) and the ability to pay without borrowing (25%) the key motivators. Budgeting, privacy, convenience, cost of paying and security are also important.