Backlash grows against cashless society

Large notes withdrawn

According to a GSMA Mobile Economy Report last year, of the 7.7 billion people in the world, 5 billion used mobile services in 2017. The series of reports provides the latest insights on the state of the mobile payment industry worldwide.

It is estimated that the number of global mobile subscribers will reach 5.9 billion by 2025-some 71 percent of the world's population-which could lead to more people using their phones as payment devices with stored cards in apps.

In India, the government is withdrawing large banknotes in favor of digital wallets such as Patym to reduce corruption, but there are fears that the move will hit the poor.

In the United Kingdom, at least 70 percent of transactions in 2017 were digital, and debit card use surpassed that of cash. However, 1.3 million Britons do not have a bank account.

A report in December titled Access to Cash Review, drawn up by a cash machine network operator, included interviews with 100 businesses and charities across the UK. It warned that if mobile payments continued to surge, about 8 million consumers-17 percent of the population-would struggle to cope in a cashless society.

Banks worldwide are paving the way for the end of cash and checks by closing ATMs and branches and encouraging customers to bank online.

In the US, large financial companies support the wider use of credit cards.

JPMorgan, the largest credit card issuer in the country, said it would soon add contactless technology to its payment cards.

In 2017, Visa declared "a war on cash", and said there would be 100 million contactless cards in the US by the end of that year. It pledged to give small businesses $10,000 worth of incentives to push digital payments because it receives a 2 or 3 percent fee for every payment made on its network.

Retail giant Walmart believes that one way to help the underbanked embrace the digital economy is to sell them prepaid cards-paid upfront with cash and not dependent on credit.

Regine, the retail and marketing professor, said this is a timely move, as this year alone US shoppers will spend $190 billion through cashless transactions.

Despite the rapid charge to a cashless society, cash is still used more frequently in the US, ahead of payments made electronically, by credit or debit cards, or by check.

Regine said: "You're always going to have people who have cash on them, but they're carrying less. I recently saw a store in Florida with a sign that said, 'No cash' If a small vendor does not accept a card, it runs the risk of losing sales. ... But a big store like Macy's is not going to say anytime soon that it doesn't accept cash."