This is a reflection on 12 months as Editor of Cash & Payment News™ (CPN), writing about the payment environment and the role of cash. With the impact of the pandemic providing the backdrop, a number of themes are evident.

Both Switzerland and the US are big users of cash. Here we report on surveys that show change is happening.

In September 2020 Reconnaissance Consulting Group was asked to consider what would happen to cash at a future moment where the world economy and society had re-opened living with COVID.

Financial crime, particularly digital financial crime, can feel victimless. The losses are factored into the fees and charges which are passed on in higher prices and the press seldom focus on the distress and stress caused to individuals faced with criminal activity. In addition, the authorities continue to focus on cash while the evidence grows that criminals are at least as comfortable, if not more so, working with digital cash.

Enryo, the payment consultancy, addressed the ‘cash paradox’ in a recent piece in Finextra.

A number of states and cities in the US have implemented or are considering legislation to make cash acceptance at retailers mandatory.

China has decided to stop cryptocurrency mining in the interests of financial stability. Mining is the process that validates cryptocurrency transactions by solving cryptographic puzzles in return for receiving newly minted coins.

As a reminder, CBDC announcements were made in May relating to Brazil, Georgia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Norway, Pakistan and Russia and in June to Indonesia, Korea, Mauritius, South Africa and Thailand.

The Bundesbank held its international cash conference in June 2021 on the topic of ‘Cash in Times of Turmoil’. The future of cash was extensively explored alongside the impact of the pandemic on cash usage and consumer behaviour.

The Optical Document Security and Digital Document Security conferences have now been combined into one ‘super-conference’, Optical & Digital Document Security (ODDS).

The Dutch National Bank (DNB) has written to the Dutch House of Representatives presenting its report, ‘The Future of Cash Infrastructure in the Netherlands’. The DNB commissioned a study from McKinsey in December last year as the basis for this report.

Peterson K. Ozili has written about financial inclusion and why it is harder than it looks. Many of the barriers are within the control of governments to remove by investment and subsidies. Others, the cultural, social and income barriers are a much more significant challenge.

Two articles recently cast a different light on financial inclusion. The first published by Cash Essentials and written by Manuel A. Bautista-González of Colombia University about cash in Mexico and the second published in the Irish Times. Very different stories but interesting perspectives on using less cash.

In 2019 National Westminster Bank (NatWest) commissioned independent academic research to look into the drivers of consumer payment behaviour, including consumer attitudes and intentions towards cash. The research was carried out by Professor Darren Duxbury, Dr Thanos Verousis and by David Marsh. This is a short summary of their work with the full research being published in due course.

A survey carried out in February 2021 by the Dutch National Bank (DNB Cash) contained some good news for cash. In five years’ time over 70% of all age groups expect still to be using cash.

On 11 June the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) opened its latest Innovation Hub Centre in London following on from hubs in Hong Kong, Singapore and Switzerland that have already been established. Canada, Frankfurt and Paris, Stockholm, supported by all of the Scandinavian central banks, and New York are planned to open in due course.

Central banks making statements about investigating or working on Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) this month include Bank Indonesia, the Bank of Korea (pilot June 2021-January 2022), Bank of Mauritius, the South Africa Reserve Bank (retail CBDC), and the Bank of Thailand.

Jens Eberhardt, Managing Director of Cashinfrapro, has written a useful paper – ‘Green Cash Logistics’ – which considers how modern ways of working can reduce the environmental impact of the cash cycle.

This November, COP26, the UN climate change conference, will take place in Glasgow. Cash & Payment News™ and its sister paper Currency News™ have started work on a paper, ‘Cash: a Roadmap to Sustainability’, ahead of the conference.

Over the past year Currency Research has successfully pivoted to deliver online virtual events across its portfolio, with approximately 50 live and on-demand sessions reaching over 3,000 industry participants across the cash and payments industries.