Cash & Payment News in March

Cash & Payment News™ this month follows two main themes, payments and cash in a pandemic, along with a range of CashTech and other stories.

The lead article reviews a paper by cashless advocate Kenneth Rogoff on the implications for advanced economies in the long-term trend of value being stored in cash, pointing to his frequently expounded view that cash is used for criminal intent and tax evasion.

On the payments front, the edition leads with three stories about the fees charged and market behaviour of Visa and Mastercard, demonstrating the perception that they use their market power but that it has limits. Walmart’s ambition to take on some of the roles of a banker is covered, along with how the Ant group has run into problems in China doing just that.

Alper Sayin reviews payment trends in Turkey and the drive to lower costs, while the EPC’s work to improve the efficiency of cash handling across Europe is also described.

There have been a number of serious research articles about what has happened to cash over the last year in the context of the pandemic, three of which are summarised – namely a report by the Bank of Canada about what happened when COVID restrictions were lifted in Canada last year, Franz Seitz and Gerhard Rösel’s article on the flight to cash in a crisis and recent survey results about American spending in a pandemic.

CashTech is covered by an interview with Diebold Nixdorf UK about their work, along with an update on the latest ATM advances and developments around the world.

An update on CBDC activity includes brief summaries of the latest Swiss National Bank and Bank of Canada papers, while News in Brief includes the ending of the cashless store trial by Woolworth in Australia and the FRB Atlanta research where they wonder if cash is at an inflexion point.

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