Cash

The country has lots of smartphones, few plastic cards, and it's just starting to get rid of cash.

Despite digital payment advancements and the availability of mobile wallets in most countries, cash remains a prominent payment form — especially in Romania, where 78% of transactions are still made with cash.

Cold, hard cash is inevitably going away. Banks have a responsibility to help consumers who don’t have smartphones or even email addresses be prepared, says Shawn Rose, chief digital officer of Scotiabank.

Japan has long been known for its heavy use of cash, which is a burden for banks that are trying to move more services online. Maintaining ATMs alone costs about 700 billion yen ($6.6 billion) annually and another 100 billion yen is spent handling cash at branch counters, Nomura Research Institute estimates.

The company is bringing more sports betting sites onto its platform for accepting cash payments for digital sellers.

Mexico’s central bank is set to announce Monday that it will lend money to local banks that can’t find U.S. financial institutions to take their stashes of bulk cash in dollars, according to a draft of a statement seen by Bloomberg News.

Venues are piloting payment technology as a way to promote less contact and shorter lines.

This is in stark contrast to perceptions that cash can spread pathogens, a concern that has caused many consumers and merchants to downplay its usage.

The Bank of France will shut down more than a third of its cash handling centers by the end of 2022 as the Covid-19 pandemic accelerates a decline in the use of notes and coins.

Smaller financial institutions and fintechs need to work together to continue closing the unbanked gap through expanded digital banking capabilities.

The Mint’s facilities in Denver and Philadelphia worked overtime in the second half of 2020 so that banks and retailers could get more change into customers’ hands.

There's a way to manage the tricky balance between rapid digitization and the people who still need or prefer cash, and for Ram Chary it can be found in a casino.

As the pandemic accelerates a broad business shift away from cash payments, Pablo Martinez, marketing leader at startup Pay Theory, recalls hearing how his Puerto Rican father and Guatemalan mother struggled for years to enter the U.S. banking system.

Tennessee retailers turned to cash acceptance as they continued to recover Monday from the Christmas Day explosion in downtown Nashville.

FreedomPay and Sightline Payments are partnering to develop a cashless digital payments and patron loyalty platform for casinos, resorts and other gaming operators.

U.S. consumers wanting to use cash for online payments will have the option to do so through a collaboration between Paysafe and Incomm Payments.

Once vaccines are widely available, some Americans may revert to old habits of paying cash and swiping cards, but many will stick to digital and mobile payment methods, says Paysend's Matt Montes.

Improvements have been made in reducing the number of unbanked households over the past few years, but progress hasn't been even across different communities. There are also new obstacles coming to light, as COVID-19 drives more banks and consumers to digital channels to acquire and service new financial products.

The risk of catching COVID-19 through using banknotes is low, according to research by the Bank of England that suggests the aversion to using cash during the pandemic is unnecessary.

As futuristic as real-time digital payments can be, the concept is almost like a blast from the past for FIS’ Raja Gopalakrishnan.