733 Podcast Plug-in: Fintech Insider

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In recent years, the popularity of cash has dwindled as digital payments have become faster, cheaper, and more convenient. Those in the UK, Sweden, China, and many parts of the world are moving closer and closer to a cashless economy. 

Why is a cashless society growing?

Sweden is on track to become a cashless society by 2023 and China’s digital payment users has grown 10%, to 577 million users over the course of 2020. There are many reasons why a cashless society is beneficial to the general public. According to guest speaker Joseph Hajj, Chief Strategy Officer of Swish, the two top benefits of a cashless society are:

1. Simplicity: consumers don’t need to go to ATM machines, and digital payment transactions are easier for both merchants and customers 

2. Efficiency: There’s a reduced cost of cash transactions through commercial banks

Not everyone is on board with switching to a cashless society. 

People are still skeptical towards a cashless society because of cybersecurity and regulators need to make sure the identification is real between sender and receiver. “47% of the population in the United Kingdom do not want a cashless society,” according to David Dechamps, Senior Vice President, Digital Payments & Labs for MasterCard in Europe.

The outlook of cashless society:

“Creating a totally cashless society is still a long way to go, but big corporations like MasterCard are trying to move towards a cashless system,” according to Nadia Costanzo, head of Banking for MEA & Latin America at Wise.

Nonetheless, people are becoming more aware of digital wallets and payments.