G4S looks beyond small change in cash revolution

Global security and cash management firm G4S expects notes and coins to drive its business, even as their usage falls in favour of electronic transactions around the world.

Although data compiled by the British company best known for transporting banknotes in armoured vans shows people are increasingly paying for anything from their daily coffee to online bargains with cards and mobiles, Chief Executive Ashley Almanza said G4S is defying its own expectations.

“Our fastest growing service line anywhere in the world in the last three years has been cash solutions in the United States,” Almanza told Reuters in a telephone interview.

The death of cash has long been predicted and in Sweden the number of cash payments in shops has dropped by almost half to 20 percent from 39 percent between 2010 and 2015.

However, in Europe as a whole, G4S says 80 percent of point-ofsale transactions are still conducted in physical currency.

G4S designs and implements software which cuts corporate costs by reducing the time, effort and manpower needed to count and manage payments of all types over tills, Almanza said.