Cashless Sweden would hit elderly

SWEDEN: The brakes may go on Sweden’s dash to do away with cash, after warnings all-digital transactions would hurt the elderly and the poor.

The parliament has begun a review into the consequences of changing to a cash-free economy, which is happening at such a rate that it has surprised even advocates of the system.

‘‘If this development with cash disappearing happens too fast, it can be difficult to maintain the infrastructure for handling cash,’’ Mats Dillen, the head of the review, said.

Stefan Ingves, governor of Riksbank, the central bank, has said Sweden should consider forcing banks to provide cash krone to customers to prevent the paper and coin system drying up.

Most bank branches no longer handle cash, and plastic or mobile payments are preferred by shops, museums and restaurants, and are even used for church collections and in public toilets.

According to the Riksbank, cash payments in the retail sector accounted for 15 per cent in 2016, down from 40 per cent in 2010.

A survey by Insight Intelligence last month found that only a quarter of Swedes used cash at least once a week, and more than a third rarely or never used it.

The disappearance of a cash system, long seen as a boon for the economy, would exclude people who had poor access to digital payment, critics say.

Bjorn Eriksson, a former national police commissioner and head of Interpol, recently said he was ‘‘angry because about a million people can’t cope with cards: the elderly, former convicts, tourists, immigrants. The banks don’t care because [these people] are not profitable.’’ –