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Cashless Payments Surge in Popularity Worldwide

http://associationsnow.com/2017/01/report-cashless-payments-surge-popularity-worldwide/

A British data firm reports that cashless transactions, including cards and credit transfers, have seen a major rise in uptake in recent years, suggesting significant long-term growth.

The move toward a cashless society isn’t just gaining steam at popular fast-casual chains.

According to new research from the British financial data firm Retail Banking Research (RBR), the trend of moving away from cash for most transactions is picking up steam all over the world.

RBR’s report, released Tuesday [PDF], states that 471 billion cashless payments were conducted in 2015, a jump of more than 50 percent from 2011. Card-based transactions were the most popular type of cashless payment in every portion of the world except the Asia-Pacific region. But while cards are most commonly used, the value of such transactions is very low, making them worth only a small portion of all payments made. (Credit transfers and direct deposits tend to be used more commonly for high-price transactions.)

Meanwhile, ATM use over the same period saw an increase, but by 33 percent—a smaller percentage in comparison to cash-free transactions.

The research firm sees the trend growing for a few reasons. RBR reported in September [PDF] that card-based payments are expected to grow by 55 percent between 2015 and 2021, with the largest growth taking place in the Asia-Pacific region.
Additionally, contactless cards and instant credit transfers are likely to become more common around the globe, probably with the help of mobile payments.

“The soaring use of contactless cards for low-value payments as well as immediate payment initiatives, which will facilitate person-to-person mobile payments, will further displace cash usage over the coming years,” stated Chris Herbert, an RBR senior associate.

Of course, not every kind of cash-free payment is seeing growth. Checks, which represented 10 percent of all transactions in 2011, fell to just 4 percent in 2015—with usage falling even in countries, like the United States, where check payments are still common.