OMFIF, in partnership with Giesecke+Devrient, is publishing a report in February exploring the factors contributing to the hesitation about launching a CBDC and what concerns central banks struggle with. In the report’s survey of central banks, 81% of respondents have issued or expect to issue a CBDC at some point, with 47% expecting to issue one within five years.

While consumer payments are changing, cash continues to flourish. However, there is a need to address some of inefficiencies in cash handling if cash is to thrive.

Research has found that paying with cash is associated with pain and that people tend to spend less using cash rather than a payment card.

60 people met in Jakarta at the end of September last year for a summit by the Asian Cash Management Association (ACMA). They came from a range of stakeholders across cash cycles in the region, including central banks, Cash Management Companies (CMCs) and commercial banks.

As the global payments landscape evolves, Asia’s currency trends offer invaluable insights into the future of cash and digital payments. This analysis by De La Rue’s Richard Sokl, who also spoke about this at the HSP Asia conference, considers the dynamics of cash’s enduring role, the challenges posed by the digital divide, and how currency strategies are adapting to meet diverse needs.

The first quarter of the 21st century has witnessed a major change in payments across the world. Many payments traditionally made in cash have been replaced by frictionless and convenient options that eventually become widely accepted and change consumer payment behaviour.

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.

In a special report 01/2025, ‘Digital payments in the EU’ (European Union), the European Court of Auditors says that EU’s approach to digital payments has helped to make them ‘safer, faster and cheaper for users’.

Members of the UK’s Cash Industry Environmental Charter (CIEC) Group have shared best practice and worked together since 2021 with the aim of reducing the carbon footprint of notes and coins in the cash cycle.

The Bundesbank has published the third module of its study into the costs of cash and card payments from the consumer’s point of view.

The headlines in the European Central Bank’s (ECB) 2024 study on the payment attitudes of consumers in the euro area (SPACE) paint an interesting picture for cash payments, both alone and relative to other payment instruments.