In what seems like a global industry race to become the first cashless society, Sweden appears to lead the pack according to the KTH Royal Institute of Technology based in Stockholm. According to resources, increased use of debit and credit cards is helping push cash to the side but the country’s mobile P2P (peer-to-peer) payment system could mark the end of cash altogether.
Commenting on Sweden’s consumer cash use prospects, Niklas Arvidsson, a researcher in industrial economics and management at KTH said,
“Cash is still an important means of payment in many countries’ markets, but that no longer applies here in Sweden. Our use of cash is small, and it’s decreasing rapidly.”
Swish, a result of collaboration between major Swedish and Danish banks, is a direct payment app that is used for transactions between individuals in real time and has been exploring adding additional functionality like allowing consumers to make payments through the app at the physical POS (point-of-sale) and also online.
Mercator Advisory Group has covered in-depth the potential applications and benefits mobile P2P payment systems can bring within the US and internationally and while these systems have displaced a significant number of cash and check based transactions, cash in particular will continue to remain important over the long run thus making the pursuit of a cashless society a marathon and not a sprint.
Overview by Tristan Hugo-Webb, Associate Director, Global Payments Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
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