In a recent paper – Public Discourse on Retail Payments and the Case of CBDC (SAFE Working Paper No. 474, April 2026) – Ulrich Bindseil, former Director General of Market Infrastructure and Payments at the European Central Bank, analyses how stakeholders in the retail payments industry shape public debates and policymaking. His focus is primarily on digital payments, particularly CBDCs, which he argues have triggered unprecedented public debate. Notably, while central banks’ mandate to issue cash is acknowledged, the broader discussion on the role of cash in retail payments is largely omitted.

Economists, including those at central banks, and academics track, analyse and use cash in circulation (CIC) data extensively. What does it tell them and is it really useful for ‘cash stakeholders’ (anybody working to provide, manage and circulate cash)?

Results of the US Survey of Consumer Payment Choice (SCPC) and Diary of Consumer Payment Choice (DCPC) have been published by the Federal Reserve Banks of Atlanta and Boston and Federal Reserve Financial Services1. The DCPC, in which consumers record details of specific transactions (including dollar values) and their payment choices, was conducted in October 2025.

Following its recent Malaysian event, the next CB+DC Conference takes place 27-29 October in Amsterdam. Given that the US has just banned any prospect of a retail, or even wholesale, CBDC before 2030 in the same week that the European Parliament is pressing ahead with a digital euro, the timing and location of this event is right in the midst of the debate.

Issue data tells us how many new notes and coins the issuing authority is putting into circulation. Issue data is an indicator for suppliers about how much cash central banks are using. It also gives us an indication of economic activity, which is often looked at alongside indicators of general economic activity. Issue data is not usually published by issuing authorities.

Currency Research has published a report on the findings of a survey of 37 central banks across six continents to examine global cash usage trends and the longterm role of physical currency. The report was initiated because the experiences of mature economies are shaping the cash narrative when, in fact, the rest of the world is seeing a very different situation.

In conjunction with the UK’s National Westminster bank, Prof Darren Duxbury, behavioural finance expert and Chair in Finance at Newcastle University Business School, has carried out a research project investigating the behavioural traits that influence peoples’ choices of payment method.

At the Global Currency Forum (GCF) in Antalya at the end of April, who said or made a comment along the lines below (answers below)?

Diederik Bruggink, Senior Director – Payments, Digital Finance and Innovation (WSBI-ESBG), has published an article in the Journal of Payments Strategy & Systems: ‘A Tale of Transactions: An analysis of Retail Payments in the Euro Area’ posted on LinkedIn about it (Post | LinkedIn). The paper takes a data-driven look at how Europeans really pay today – across cash, debit cards and e-money – using the European Central Bank (ECB) SPACE 2024 study and the ECB Data Portal, with the aim of adding to the current debate about a possible holding limit for the digital euro.

There is a very significant focus on the challenges faced when people choose to pay digitally rather than with cash. It seems to be a, if not the, core theme of conferences, publications and public policy wherever you go. Why? And should it be? Two papers reported in this edition suggest it should not – the high volume economies report from the Global Currency Forum (GCF) and the Currency Research Cash Resilience paper.

An excellent session at the Global Currency Forum saw Joash Rono (Central Bank of Kenya), Alberto Torfer (Bank of Mexico), Anwar Bashori (Bank Indonesia – BI), Firat Emre Karakas (Central Bank of Türkiye – CBRT) and Faisal I Algosar (Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority) give the perspective of some high volume economies, a very different set of priorities from other presentations.

Chris Skinner’s new book, The Intelligent Bank, is not about cash1. He writes about how banking, having become digital, is now on a journey to become intelligent. He argues that this requires a fundamentally new way of working because it requires smart data. There are, perhaps, two key lessons which apply to cash and the cash cycle.

Atlantic Council has published an article looking at the growth of using local currencies for cross-border payments rather than the US dollar. The article concludes that this change has been driven by a wish to reduce costs, limit exposure to foreign-exchange volatility, and lessen vulnerabilities stemming from reliance on a handful of major currencies for cross-border payment transactions.

In a speech at the Banknote Conference on payment choice by Victoria Cleland, the Bank of England’s Executive Director, Payments, cash took centre stage.

A consortium of major European banks are working on a privately-issued digital euro. However, the European Central Bank (ECB) argues that euro-denominated stablecoins are not an effective way to strengthen the euro’s international appeal.

18 months after the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) exited the mBridge cross-border project and launched Project Agorá, the fragmentation of cross-border payments has become almost institutionalised.

With 163 banknote issuing authorities, over 1,000 circulating banknote denominations and a similar number of coins, exploring currency trends can look daunting. Central banks, mints and treasury departments often need to understand design, substrate and security feature trends in the region and wider to explore options. Printers, designers, R&D departments and product managers, suppliers and cash cycle stakeholders also need this information.

The CPT Group has published a comparative analysis of recent consumer payments surveys from Switzerland, Australia, and Jamaica, drawing some striking parallels despite the three countries' very different payment landscapes.

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) runs a number of annual surveys to understand payment trends over time and what is happening now. The latest is the 2025 survey of payment methods of 2,000 private individuals, consisting of a questionnaire and the keeping of a payment diary for a seven day period.

The 2025 Australian Consumer Payments Survey shows that cash use has stabilised in recent years.