Cash is king in Japan, and more so for the country’s fast-ageing population who are still deeply reluctant to give it up. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s push to make more Japanese - the world’s most dedicated cash-hoarders – switch to using cashless payments is producing some success, but not nearly as much as desired. A growing rank of the nation’s elderly pensioners are resisting change, which could see Japan fall further behind its peers in adopting mobile app payments and electronic money. Tokyo wants to double the ratio of cashless settlements to 40% by 2025 and to 80%...
In most of Kigali’s business outlets, a client paying for a product or service via Mobile Money is often required to add at least Rwf300 considered as withdrawal charges. This renders cashless payments more expensive than paying cash over the counter and has led to reluctance by entrepreneurs to embrace the cashless payment system that the Government, through the National Bank of Rwanda (BNR), promotes. This could also explain why despite the growth of mobile money penetration and transactions over the years, much of the money is cashed out or used for airtime purchases....
Modern finance requires a lot of trust, and its digital future will demand still more. If, for example, electronic payments are to replace cash, people must be willing to believe that the bits of data traveling among phones, cards, terminals and blockchains actually represent something of value. So will they be? Judging from their growing predilection for physical currency, maybe not. At first glance, cash would appear to be on its way out. Sweden has almost eliminated its use for payments. In America, home of the almighty dollar, almost a third of the population gets through...
The collapse of cash in Britain has been dramatic. There were 11.5 billion fewer cash transactions in 2018 than in 2008 – a decline of 51pc. It’s a pace of change that has surprised everyone, even industry insiders. “The rise of the debit card and the decline of cash is the phenomenon of the last decade,” says Adrian Buckle, head of research for UK Finance, the banking sector trade body. But Britain, while on the podium, is not the world champion in cashless. That title goes to Sweden, where demand for notes and coins is so limp that cash is literally disappearing: the...
The potential disappearance of cash is a big worry for a lot of people in the UK at the moment. With every report of cash machines being removed, physical money use declining, or bank branches shutting, fears grow that society is heading for a cashless future. So, imagine what would happen if the Government suddenly announced plans to axe almost 90 per cent of banknotes in circulation? That is what India did and a new report from Harvard University has analysed the effects. Predictably, it caused chaos, as while Indians were quick to return the old banknotes, replacement ones came more...
DIGITAL transformation has hit countries around the globe. The Lion City is one of the world's top hotbeds for technology and innovation today. In fact, Singapore accounted for a quarter of the nearly US$6 billion in capital invested in South-east Asia's technology firms during the first half of this year. Specifically, fintech investments were found to have nearly quadrupled from a year ago to US$453 million in the first half of 2019, making Singapore the third-largest fintech market by funds in the Asia-Pacific. With a huge potential such as this, fintechs need to realise the...
Several banks have come under fire for charging fees when customers make loan and credit card payments with cash or cheques over the counter or through deposit machines. At least two other banks have announced they would do the same from next month. The Association of Banks in Malaysia (ABM) says the fees are imposed to “encourage customers to move from cash to electronic payments” but consumer groups argue that this practice is unfair to those who do not do their banking via digital channels. The fee for making credit card and loan payments over the counter with cash or cheques is RM2...
We’ve heard of all the benefits of being in a cashless society, but what’s at risk? We've heard of all the benefits of being in a cashless society, but what's at risk? The appeal of mobile e-wallets is evident in Asia and the past decade, Asia has had bold ambitions to make the cashless society a reality. After all, e-money is more convenient than carrying cash, can adapt to change quickly and they’re often tied to loyalty benefits. They also save countries a lot of money as the costs of printing, storing and moving cash are not insignificant. Pioneering this front was Hong Kong...
This week saw another milestone reached in the journey towards a cashless UK with news that consumers now spend more money on credit cards alone than they do in hard cash. While that may say quite a lot about our debt crisis, it’s also another nail in the cash coffin. Physical money now forms just £1 in every £5 spent with UK retailers, according to data from the British Retail Consortium. But does it really matter? And who to? By 2027, cash will account for barely one in every 10 transactions. But the chances of us being completely cashless anytime soon...
According to a study conducted earlier this year by UK Finance, just one in ten adults in the UK now opts to only use cash, with the rapid with the rapid growth of contactless payment and decline in the number of ATMs leading many to predict that the UK may become a cashless society in the next few years. However, although some may be concerned about the prospect of going cashless, with a study conducted by consumer watchdog Which? revealing that 25 million people in the UK may be negatively affected by the move towards a cashless society, many are also worried about the possibility of a...
