DEBATE: Is cash on its way out?

The row over ATM closures is intensifying, but is cash on its way out anyway?

Professor James Woudhuysen, visiting professor of forecasting and innovation at London South Bank University, says YES.

Like it or not, the world is moving towards a cashless society.

In China, technology giants Alibaba and Tencent are leading the way with mobile payments, redefining consumers’ relationship with money. India is looking to step away from traditional cash transactions by scrapping high-denomination bank notes from circulation.

Closer to home, debit cards have overtaken cash as the most frequently used payment method in the UK, and the volume of cash removed from ATMs is falling fast – a reduction of £6bn between 2016 and 2017.

With younger generations embracing cash-free living fast, the future is looking bleak for cash. More than half of millennials (51 per cent) never use cash, and over a quarter of us (26 per cent) would never choose to pay with cash in a shop. From using contactless cards to booking taxis at the click of an app, we live in a society of increasing convenience.

All the signs point towards cash being phased out of existence.

Maria Vardy, managing director at Jaywing, says NO.

With the world market for printing bank notes set to grow to nearly $12bn in 2023, reports of the death of cash are exaggerated. With cash, there’s a convenience, familiarity, and tangibility that you don’t get from electronic money.

For a small but significant minority, electronic money is simply not part of their landscape. In 2018, 8.4 per cent of UK adults have never used the internet, let alone banked online.

Recent revelations about electronic privacy have also reinforced a desire for anonymity – a comfort that only cash can still provide.

And in addition, the desire for more authenticity in money matters since the 2008 financial crash – a task that is trickier in the virtual realm than glancing at a pile of banknotes – will support cash’s future for years to come.

There will be lots of new kinds of money, but no real end to cash. Cash is down, but it certainly isn’t out.

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