In 2023, the Bank of Canada developed a travel-based measure of cash access. This quantified how far Canadians needed to travel to their nearest Automatic Banknote Machine (ABM) or financial institution (FI) branch. This study has been updated with the latest available data, 2023, and the opportunity has been taken to improve the data quality of the ABM data provided by Mastercard, such as duplicate records, missing ABMs and issues with ABM coordinates.

On 28 April, Spain, Portugal, and parts of France experienced a widespread electrical outage that plunged about 55 million people into a pre-electric age. The blackout had significant impacts on digital payments and cash demand, highlighting the vulnerabilities of modern payment systems during infrastructure failures.

An article by David Birch has argued that cash should not be regarded as the catastrophe solution. Cash is a solution, but only for very short time frames. What is needed is the means for person-to-person (or actually, device-to-device) payments that work in the absence of mobile networks, electricity and clearing systems. For example, a device with the necessary secure microchip, or a bank smart card, allows you to pay in shops, or send money to a friend. This is how the Chinese digital currency works.

In late February, the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) gave evidence to the Economics Committee of the Australian Parliament. At the time, press reports interpreted her remarks as suggesting cash will be gone in ten years. Matt Sykes, of CPT group, has published his thoughts on the actual state of cash in Australia based on available data.

Sveriges Riksbank (Riksbank) works to ensure that payments in Sweden are safe, efficient, and accessible. They need to function in peacetime, crisis, and states of heightened alert. The Riksbank publishes a payments report most years, although 2023 was an exception. The latest report describes and analyses developments in the payments market over the past year.

The Nordic countries – Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Estonia – are reacting to risks to the payment system by working together on offline payments.

Banco Central do Brasil launched Pix, its real-time payment (RTP) system, in November 2020. Pix has a sophisticated technological infrastructure that was developed and is operated, managed and regulated by the central bank.

The latest US survey and diary of consumer payment choice compared October 2023 with October 2024.

2024 European Central Bank (ECB) survey data found that about half of point- of-sale payments in Ireland were made using cash. The Finance (Provision of Access to Cash Infrastructure) Bill has now been passed in Ireland to ‘provide for the continued provision of sufficient and effective access to cash infrastructure’. The new Act makes legal provision for the availability, operation, regulation and accessibility of ATM services and cash service points.

MyCarbon, who spoke at the Cash Sustainability Forum™, has recently teamed up with Santander Bank to explain about Scope 3 reporting of greenhouse gas emissions for small and medium size enterprises (SMEs).

In early January of this year, an article in Chile’s primary newspaper almost proudly touted the fact that Chile’s CLP had reached a new status in Argentina (the CLP is the name of the exchange rate used by anyone in Chile who needs to buy US dollars unofficially). Suddenly, the Chilean peso had achieved sufficient stature to be exchanged informally at multiples of ARS 1.03 to 1.21 for each CLP 1.

As yet unsubstantiated rumours report that China is linking its digital renminbi cross- border payment system to the 10 ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and six Middle East jurisdictions.

Auriga, which creates omnichannel banking software, has published a white paper on a net zero cash management strategy. The paper starts by raising the question of just how green digital payments actually are before going on to focus on cash.

In monetary exchange, holding money is evidence of past transactions of goods sold or services rendered. In effect, money can be seen as a record-keeping device. A monetary system needs a record of who has what and where it has moved.

A Centre for Economic Policy Research paper has focused on the need for central banks to be financially resilient.

This year Microsoft turns 50. Amazon is just over 30, Meta is 21 and the iPhone is just 18. Another organisation turning 18 this year, one that has had a major impact on payments, is M-Pesa. Payments:Unpacked recently ran an article from Jeremy Light’s Agenda:Payments newsletter2 celebrating M-Pesa’s milestone birthday.

A new OECD paper highlights the importance of balancing digital innovation with the enduring need for cash. By adopting comprehensive policies and initiatives, governments can ensure that all segments of society have access to reliable and secure payment methods, fostering financial inclusion and stability in the digital age.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City has published an article on the evolution of video game payments infrastructure. As gaming has become big business, companies have changed how they monetise and distribute games to their customers, as well as adapted and evolved their payments infrastructure to support new revenue models. Changes in gaming payments represents a microcosm of what is happening in payments more broadly.

The Bank of England (BOE) is in the design phase of work on a digital pound (DP). As part of this phase, it is conducting experiments and proofs of concept in collaboration with private- sector innovators and a range of stakeholders.

Reconnaissance, working with Currency Publications, started a programme of sustainability-related projects at the end of 2021 with the publication of ‘Cash: A Roadmap to Sustainability’. Since then, we have continued a programme of work which has been made freely available in an effort to help reduce our industries environmental impact.