This is the title of a recently published study that is the third and final module in a series of studies in Germany looking at the ‘Costs and Benefits of Cash and Cashless Payment Instruments’.

The effect of financial inclusion (FI) on financial stability has gained attention in recent years because of its importance for effective policymaking. While policymakers aim to achieve FI and financial stability goals simultaneously, overlooking the potential trade-offs between them can expose economies to costly systemic crises or hinder the progress of FI.

In the UK at the end of January Barclays Bank had a major IT outage, followed by HSBC, which meant customers could not use their online banking. At the same time Lloyds Bank and NatWest have announced even more bank branch closures and the UK government has confirmed it will not require retailers to accept cash payments.

On 5 February 2025, the Deutsche Bundesbank held its sixth cash symposium in Berlin. Around 120 participants from politics, industry and society attended.

The singleness of money is that principle that all different forms of money must have the same value at all times and be interchangeable at par and without cost. A criticism of regulators such as the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and Bank of England (BoE) is that stablecoins may undermine the ‘singleness of money’.

The use of coin dates back over 2,500 years, and in an industry that old, it can be difficult to do anything genuinely ‘new’. Hence the excitement when NatWest hosted what’s believed to be the first ever cash hackathon at their London HQ in late November, with attendees from a range of industries, to innovate on future payment methods, and reimagine the future of cash.

At the Coin Conference in Lisbon Martina Horakova, Managing Director, International Mint Industry Association (IMIA), presented European Economic Area legislations and proposals ‘in favour’ of cash access and acceptance.

In September Franz Seitz and Gerhard Rösl published a paper laying out the challenges and risks faced by cash in countries moving to being less cash societies. It is a tour de force providing both facts and arguments about what can be done. It provides the context and the arguments for the future of cash discussions heard at every conference this autumn – ATMIA, Coin, Retail Branch Transformation, High Security Print.

Pascal Wicht, Strategic Designer at SICPA, presented at October’s ATMIA conference on the social role of cash, particularly for Gen Z. This work forms part of the International Currency Associations (ICA) programme of understanding and advocating for cash by going beyond the pure retail and payment functions of cash.

At the ATMIA Europe & Emerging Markets conference in October Thierry Lebeaux, Secretary General of the European Security Transport Association (ESTA) presented about the impact of less cash in the euro area on the cash in transit industry. Dr Rüdiger Voss also presented on the European Commission Euro protection and euro cash.