It’s Personal
Immer mehr Menschen halten ihre Kreditkarte an ein spezielles Gerät, anstatt umständlich mit Münzen zu bezahlen. Ist die bargeldlose Gesellschaft auf dem Vormarsch?
Elisabeth Ribbans on a cashless society
One tap of your credit or debit card on the bus, in the supermarket or at the cafe, and away you go. No signature, no PIN, no cash required. The queue moves more quickly, and you move on with your day. No wonder “contactless” payments now account for nearly a fifth of transactions in the UK, helping to accelerate the decline of cash, which according to UK Finance — the trade association for the banking and finance sector — is now used for only 28 per cent of all payments.
I was reminded how dramatically things have changed when I recently asked a group of colleagues if anyone had “change for a tenner”. None could assist. “Sorry, I don’t really carry cash these days,” was the gist of their response. It was also unusual for me to have a £10 note in my hand, and I wished I didn’t have the bother of it, but I needed to reimburse someone for the cost of a coffee.
UK Finance reports that one in ten British adults are living a cashless life, in other words, they use “hard” currency once a month or less. The association predicts that by 2028, the proportion of payments made in notes and coins will be just nine per cent, compared to 60 per cent in 2008.
I have long thought that future generations will one day laugh at us for carrying money in physical form, a concept as quaint as trading in shells or sheep. I was, in fact, hoping the day would come...
Until I started noticing how my empty pockets meant I was often unable to thank a busker with some loose change, make a donation while visiting a historic building or help one of the growing numbers of homeless people on our city streets to buy a hot meal.
Thankfully, innovation and imagination are finding some ways to fix the problem: in 2018, the mayor of London, in partnership with fintech company izettle, launched Busk in London. It’s a “world first” initiative, enabling street performers to take contactless payments. Meanwhile, “giving points”, which enables people to tap their phone or card to donate to local charities, is multiplying in cities across the UK. Recently, I saw that even the wooden donations box at a church in a village near my home had been replaced by a card device.
It is, however, policy that must keep pace. A 2019 report, the “Access to Cash Review”, warned that more than eight million British adults “would struggle to cope in a cashless society” for reasons including lack of broadband or bank accounts. It says that governments need to take urgent action before we reach the “point of no return”.
As we tap our way on to a bus, out of a taxi and into the future, it’s important that no citizen be left behind.