Cash Recovering and Holding On, Says BIS

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructure (CMPI) consists of 14 Advanced Economy (AE) and 13 Emerging Market Economy (EME) countries. It collects extensive data on their cash and electronic payments and uses these to draw conclusions about payment trends. Data collection is always significantly behind the fact, and it has recently issued its 2021 report ¹. Despite the time lag, it contains some useful insights and thoughts.

The takeaways offered by the CMPI are that public demand for cash remains steady both as a means of payment and as a safe haven. Digitalisation is a global phenomenon, but between countries payment habits are very different. The next major leap forward will be if the interoperability challenges can be overcome to allow faster payments across borders.