Cash

Web and mobile bill payment provider Doxo is taking its first step into cash payment options by partnering with Coinstar to enable cash bill payment at thousands of coin-counting kiosks in retail locations.

The Middle East presents a rare opportunity for digital payment innovators to access a populous and high-spending region with good levels of connectivity, writes Tom MacDonald, financial and business services practice head for Global Growth Markets.

Last month, banks submitted draft policies on the so-called application programming interfaces, or APIs, that will open up their systems to fintech firms seeking to do everything from payments and remittances to budget planning

Slowly and silently, 10,000 free-to-use ATMs are set to disappear from Britain’s high streets over the next four years — despite recent findings that at least 3 million people across the U.K. rely on cash for almost all of their day-to-day payments.

With 1.3 billion people who are mostly unbanked in an economy where 85% to 95% of all transactions are still conducted in cash, few other markets have such an opportunity to modernize payments.

Because cash remains a staple for customers at many businesses, a service like Total Armored Car cash delivery continues to be important to managing cash flow. But how companies go about ordering a cash delivery at Total Armored hasn't changed in decades — until now.

Advances in mobile technology have also permeated into other products, including point of sale hardware. With mobile point of sale devices being updated to include sophisticated software, there is more real-time capture of customer data in the store.

Walt Disney Co. is among the many companies that have aggressively pushed the limits of technology to do away with the need for cash. Its biggest test is about to begin.

Retracting an Obama administration policy that shielded banks servicing marijuana companies threatens financial firms and makes the pot industry too reliant on cash.

A crucial challenge for payment apps and cashless banking is how they adapt to provide services for the unbanked, writes Michael Kordvani, head of SEO for app development agency Fueled.

The rapid development of the Indian mobile wallet market demonstrates the importance of reactivity and adaptability. Huge opportunities await those who can successfully navigate the transformative impact of regulation, emerging technologies and shifting consumer expectations, writes Elina Mattila, executive director of the Mobey Forum.

While Starbucks is making a tentative move into cash refusal at one location, it's unlikely any retailer would widely refuse cash payments in the near term.

North Korean counterfeits haven't been documented since 2008, but recent sanctions may have pressured the country to return to making undetectable U.S. cash.

Prepaid2Cash has launched a mobile app enabling recipients of card network-branded gift cards to convert them to cash — targeting what the National Retail Federation says is nearly $30 billion in funds spent via gift cards in the U.S. during the holiday season.

Consumers’ behavior around paying bills is often fluid and millennials put a high priority on paying bills immediately, which sometimes means with cash.

Transit agencies worldwide are attempting to eradicate cash and the bottlenecks that it causes from situations where customer throughput is paramount. But is this effort truly viable given the entrenched payment behaviors and requirements for serving everyone, even digital naysayers?

While many consumers are indeed adding smartphone-driven digital pay and mobile order and pay options into their payments toolbox, cash continues to resonate with American consumers, who show little interest in being "all in" with cashless, or having their choices limited in any way, writes Brian Bailey, managing director of North America for Cardtronics.

The ROI with the incremental costs and considerations will determine whether to proceed or not whether it is cashless, cash, or other alternative payment methods, writes Laura Townsend, senior vice president of the Merchant Advisory Group.

Cash is resilient, especially during times of crisis or uncertainty. But there are significant efforts to make cash less relevant in areas where it has typically been a mainstay.

What makes Shake Shack's cashless store so potentially powerful — even if it's only one location in Manhattan — is what the burger chain can do when every customer is known to it.