Evolving consumer preferences and digital transformation are boosting European cashless transactions. The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated this trend, exploiting a need for safer and more convenient payment methods both for remote and physical transactions. However, cash remains the preferred means for payments in Italy. A guest blog by Marco Folcia, Sara Marcozzi, Tommaso Gheduzzi and Niccolò Polcri, PWC Italy. Digital […]

Don’t ask me ask the 71% of people that have replaced all or some of their cash habits. Moving quickly and responsibly to a cashless society Earlier this week I took part in the second PHOS Steering Group on the subject of “Moving quickly and responsibly to a cashless society. This second Steering Group discussed “understanding and removing the barriers to a cashless society”. Over the last six […]

Frictionless and contactless – you can now order McDonald’s hands-free with Siri and Apple Pay McDonald’s has launched a brand-new function on the My McDonald’s App where customers are now able to order and pay for their food using Siri and Apple Pay.  Hands-free ordering is no longer a thing of the future as the latest innovation runs across all […]

Car drivers in the US can now use Amazon’s Alexa to pay for fuel with a simple voice command. Available at over 11,500 Exxon and Mobil stations across the US, the “Alexa, pay for gas” command uses the default payment option set in the user Amazon account. The process – which includes geo-location at Exxon and Mobil stations, pump activation, […]

Use the slider to spot the difference at the Kettledrum Cafe in Rothesay on the Isle of Bute Back in February I made a confession – I paid cash for a beaut Bute meat pie. I am sure I could have purchased a cashless sandwich from the COOP but when faced with a bueat Bute steak pie and chips at […]

August marks another cashless year for me, you may remember my last anniversary blog “Don’t think of it as going cashless, think of it as an upgrade to the 21st Century”.  You’ll see that this time last year I set myself two key challenges – to banish the paper receipt and maximise the use of frictionless payments – which I have […]

This article first appeared in the Payments, Payments, Payments newsletter – read, subscribe and share: northeypoint.substack.com/welcome The start of lockdown in March 2020 saw the use of cash in the UK halve in a matter of days. Has this begun a move towards becoming a cashless society? What are the benefits, opportunities, and concerns of such a change? It may […]

As a cashless advocate tipping is the final frontier for me – whilst I find that most places provide digital tipping options my favourite restaurant and my barber both have stuck to cash only tips for their staff. After reading about thankU in the Daily Telegraph and The Times I invited thankU creator Adrian Harris to write a guest blog […]

LINK, the operator of the UK’s ATM network, have just reported: “Cash is gradually coming back. The 19th May saw ATM withdrawals of £179m, the highest for a Tuesday during Lockdown and up 20% on Tuesday the 21st April” LINK I am running a Twitter poll for a newsletter piece on post pandemic cash use in the UK and would […]

A new study has highlighted Europe’s leading cashless economies. Retail Times report that a new study by Merchant Machine has analysed Europe’s leading cashless economies. The study highlights the countries where citizens would like to go completely cashless the most and who uses contactless payments the most. COVID19 changes everything Given the study was pre-lockdown it is likely that the […]

Cash usage dropped by half over the last week, it is vital that digital payment options are accessible, inclusive and equitable for all in society. The planned increase of the contactless limit from 1 April is an excellent first step. However, don’t forget that with digital wallets like ApplePay payments are not constrained by a limit. Just 6 days away […]

Today (9 March 2020) LINK, the company that operates the UK’s ATM network, released the weekly statistics for ATM based cash withdrawals. When comparing week ending 8 March with the equivalent week in 2019, LINKS own data shows that there were 6,300,000 fewer ATM withdrawals during the 7 day period. Over six million fewer transactions over a seven day period! […]

Today Link, the operator of the UK’s largest ATM network, published the number and value of ATM transactions across their network over the last week. Once again the figures continue to demonstrate that the UK is fast becoming a truly cashless society. Link’s figures show that cash withdrawals for last week are down roughly 10 million on the equivalent week […]