NatWest is committed to shaping and accelerating the UK’s cash cycle transition to a lower carbon economy. As part of this commitment in September 2020 NatWest brought together 36 organisations to discuss sustainability and the environmental impact of cash.

The Deputy Governor of the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ), Natalie Haynes, has put its work on CBDCs in the context of the government’s financial inclusion strategy. The BOJ sees a CBDC as an important tool in allowing people to access financial services and products.

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka introduced a national QR code standard for local currency payments in July 2019. Known as LankaQR, 24 payment apps from 21 financial institutions have now been certified for use with the system. The central bank has begun a nationwide rollout of the LankaQR payment system.

Kantar, who deals in consumer knowledge and insights, wrote an interesting piece last year about how they can help businesses make the consumer experience better with all the benefits for customer satisfaction that come from it.

On 8 November 2016 it was announced that from midnight that night the two top denominations in India would no longer be legal tender. These two denominations represented 86% of the cash in circulation. A discussion paper from Monash Business School reviews findings from new modelling of that event that investigated the impact of that action on aggregate output, welfare and the size of the shadow economy in India.

Turkey has a high rate of inflation and household demand for cash has been increasing steadily over the past ten years. The impact of the pandemic was, initially, a decrease in demand because of the shutdowns but, after vaccinations were introduced, demand recovered very quickly.

The Dutch National Bank (DNB) spoke at the recent European Cash Cycle seminar (ICCOS) about the McKinsey study commissioned to consider the cash infrastructure the Netherlands will need for the next 10 years. With cash transactions now representing 20% of all transactions, down from 32% pre-pandemic, the Netherlands is preparing for a less cash society.

David Sax, a journalist, has written a book ‘Revenge of the Analog: Real things and why they matter’. He makes an interesting case for analogue products such as banknotes. The digital world has been with us for over 20 years, and it has brought significant benefits, usually related to convenience, choice and cost.

Last month we reviewed the Bank of Canada’s report on the impact of the second wave of COVID-19 on cash usage in Canada. This month we consider a report using data from four countries, the UK, the US, Spain and Mexico, as well as the EU.

With the UK recently hosting the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), companies in the UK cash cycle are thinking about what they can do to play their part.

Prof Dr Julia Pitter spoke at the recent Bundesbank cash symposium about the relationship between people and cash. According to Dr Pitter, a business psychologist at the Internationale Hochschule in Vienna, cash is more than a payment.

The Dutch National Bank (DNB) spoke at the recent ICCOS seminar about the McKinsey study commissioned to consider the cash infrastructure the Netherlands will need for the next 10 years. With cash transactions having recovered to 20% of transactions, down from 32% pre-pandemic, the Netherlands is preparing for a less cash society.

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) wrote an article for the Annual Review of Economics that laid out work done on Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) to date. The paper puts CBDCs in context of all payment methods and considers why and how CBDCs are being developed and the challenges central banks are grappling with.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) ran a global retail CBDC challenge competition with the results announced at the Singapore Fintech festival. It received 300 submissions from over 50 countries.

The Bank of International Settlements (BIS) has issued a paper ‘What does digital money mean for emerging market and developing economies?’. The paper questions whether stablecoins are the answer to all problems and whether other digital solutions have a role to play.

Whilst we may all be tired of hearing about COVID-19 and its impact on just about everything to do with our everyday lives, it is important for those involved with cash and payments to examine its impact on cash and payments to date and perhaps, more importantly still, the implications for the future.

With under 100 days to go to the winter Olympics, China is encouraging domestic and foreign retailers to enable payment using the e-Yuan, China’s CBDC. Although foreign visitors will not be able to travel to China for the Olympics, it continues to work towards having the e-Yuan up and running.

With the UN Climate Change conference, COP 26, taking place through early November, we thought it would be appropriate to review the environmental work of stakeholders in the cash industry over the last few years.

There are concerns that with the UK’s contactless limit rising to £100, crime is more likely. In addition, the lack of ‘friction’ at the point-of-sale could increase the risk to retailers of unintended losses from consumers who present a card without it registering and then leaving the shop.

The future of cash is, without doubt, the most discussed, presented and written about topic in the cash and retail payments industry during the last 10 years. The topic took on a new dimension with the arrival of COVID-19, the effects of which feature in a discussion paper, titled simply ‘The Future of Cash’.