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Why Sweden is close to becoming a cashless economy
bbc.com, 12 Sept 2017

Sweden is the most cashless society on the planet, with barely 1% of the value of all
payments made using coins or notes last year. So how did the Nordic nation get so far
ahead of the rest of us?
Warm cinnamon buns are stacked next to mounds of freshly-baked sourdough bread at a
neighbourhood coffee shop just west of Stockholm city centre.
Amongst the other typically Scandinavian touches is another increasingly common sight in the
Swedish capital: a "We don't accept cash" sign.
"We wanted to minimise the risk of robberies and it's quicker with the customers when they pay
by card," says Victoria Nilsson, who manages two of the bakery chain's 16 stores across the city.
"It's been mainly positive reactions. We love to use our cards here in Stockholm."
Across the country, cash is now used in less than 20% of transactions in stores - half the number
five years ago, according to the Riksbank, Sweden's central bank.
Coins and banknotes have been banned on buses for several years after unions raised concerns
over drivers' safety.
Even tourist attractions have started to gamble on taking plastic-only payments, including
Stockholm's Pop House Hotel and The Abba Museum.
Smaller retailers are jumping on the bandwagon, too, making use of home-grown technologies
such as iZettle, the Swedish start-up behind Europe's first mobile credit card reader.
Such portable technologies have enabled market traders - and even homeless people promoting
charity magazines - to take card payments easily.
"I took my kids to the funfair and there was a guy selling balloons and he had a card machine
with him," remarks Senobar Johnsen, one of the Swedish customers back at the bakery.
Currently living in Portsmouth in southern England, she's visiting Sweden for the first time in a
year and says it's "visibly noticeable" that people are paying more with cards.
"It's not like the UK where there's often a minimum spend when you go to a kiosk or you're in
the middle of nowhere. I think it's great".
Swish, a smartphone payment system, is another popular Swedish innovation used by more than
half the country's 10 million strong population.
Backed by the major banks, it allows customers to send money securely to anyone else with the
app, just by using their mobile number. It's also a popular way to transfer money instantly
between friends: Swedes can no longer get away with delaying their share of a restaurant bill
using the excuse that they're short on cash.
"In general, consumers are very interested in new technologies, so we're quite early to adopt
them," explains Niklas Arvidsson, a professor at Stockholm's Royal Institute of Technology.
This is partly down to infrastructure (Sweden is among the most connected countries in the EU);
a relatively small population that is an ideal test-bed for innovations; and the country's
historically low corruption levels, he argues.
"Swedes tend to trust banks, we trust institutions... people are not afraid of the sort-of 'Big
Brother' issues or fraud connected to electronic payment."
Barely 1% of the value of all payments were made using coins or notes last year, compared to
around 7% across the EU and in the US.
Prof Arvidsson predicts that the use of cash will most likely be reduced to "a very marginal
payment form" by 2020.
Retailers seem to agree. A survey of almost 800 small retailers found that two thirds of
respondents said they anticipated phasing out cash payments completely by 2030.
But the trend is not to everyone's liking, as Bjorn Eriksson, formerly national police
commissioner and president of Interpol, explains.
Here, his local coffee shop still accepts old-fashioned money, but several of the banks no longer
offer cash deposits or over-the-counter withdrawals.
"I like cards. I'm just angry because about a million people can't cope with cards: the elderly,
former convicts, tourists, immigrants. The banks don't care because these groups are not
profitable," he argues.
The 71-year-old is the face of a national movement called Kontantupproret (Cash Rebellion),
which is also concerned about identity theft, rising consumer debt and cyber-attacks.
(677 words)

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Document 2:

The rise of the cashless city: 'There is this real danger of exclusion'
Adapted from The Guardian, Monday 9 January 2017

Scrolling through my online bank statements at Christmas, I was surprised to find I had not
removed cash from an ATM for well over four months. Thanks to the ubiquity of electronic
payment systems, it has become increasingly easy to glide around London to a chorus of
approving bleeps.
As more shops and transport networks adapt to contactless card and touch-and-go mobile
technology, many major cities around the world are in the process of relegating cash to second-
class status. Some London shops and cafes are now, like the capital’s buses, simply refusing to
handle notes or coins.
Could we see a whole city go cash-free? Many of us are happy to tap cards or phones to hop on a
bus, buy a coffee or pay for groceries, but it raises the prospect of a time we no longer carry any
cash at all.
No spare change for the busker at the station, the person sleeping rough in need of a hot drink,
the market trader, the donation box. Although even on-street charity fundraisers are now
broaching the world of contactless payments, what might the rise of the cashless city mean for
street vendors, small merchants and the poorest inhabitants?
Some experts now fear a two-tier urban realm in which those on the lowest incomes become
disconnected from mainstream commercial life by their dependence on traditional forms of
currency.
“The beauty of cash is that it’s a direct and simple transaction between all kinds of different
people, no matter how rich or poor,” explains financial writer Dominic Frisby. “If you begin to
insist on cashlessness, it does put pressure on you to be banked and signed up to financial
system, and many of the poorest are likely to remain outside of that system. So there is this real
danger of exclusion.”
Ajay Banga, Mastercard’s CEO, has spoken about the growing global risk of “creating islands,
where the unbanked transact [only] with each other”.
In India, the question of how the poorest might connect with the digitised world of the middle-
class consumer is now of central importance. India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, believes
restricting currency and pushing the take-up of electronic payment will help tackle corruption
and regulate India’s untaxed, “black” economy.
Saurabh Shukla, the Delhi-based editor in chief at NewsMobile Asia, says he has seen many small
“mom and pop” store owners introduce card readers and learn how to use Paytm, a mobile
payment platform, over the past two months.
Modi is encouraging state government to create “smart” cities by connecting their public
services with the latest online technology. Yet huge queues remain outside banks as many
Indians continue to demand cash. Some of the poorest street vendors cannot afford card readers,
and have struggled to operate Paytm payment transfers on their mobile phones.
Aires Rodrigues, a human rights lawyer in Goa, says traders in Panjim are suffering. Rickshaw
drivers and fish market sellers have been left with no way of accepting payment from middle-
class customers now inclined to do everything digitally. “It’s senseless to try to make everyone
go cashless,” says Rodrigues. “The government seems to have lost sight of the plight of the
common man.”
According to a recent report by Fung Global Retail & Technology, nine of the top 15 “most
digital-ready” countries are in Europe. It predicts Sweden could become the world’s first
completely cashless society. Niklas Arvidsson at Stockholm’s KTH Royal Institute of Technology
thinks it could happen by 2030. (595 words)

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Document 3:
'Sorry, I've only got my card': can the homeless adapt to cashless society?
The Guardian, 27 Feb 2018
From contactless terminals to jackets with card readers, charities are being forced to adapt to
keep up with Britain’s steady drop in cash usage.

It’s 8 am and Jonjo Doe is getting ready for his morning shift as a vendor of the Big Issue.
Arriving in Cambridge three years ago after a brief spell in prison, he was homeless but eager to
rebuild his life. Selling the Big Issue was one of the best ways to do that – and for a while the plan
worked.
“I tend to ask everyone who walks by if they want to buy one,” says Doe. “Most people either
come up with the excuse, ‘I haven’t got any change’ – which is easy to respond to with ‘I’ve got
change for a note’ – but then there was, ‘Oh no, I’ve only got my card.’ And it just kept
happening.”
Doe’s problem is familiar. Cash payments are in steep decline across Britain. In 2006, coins and
notes were used for 62% of all transactions. Last year that fell to 40%, and by 2026 cash is
expected to account for only 21% of purchases.
Seeing his business ebb away, Doe bought a contactless card reader. Sales have improved.
Around a quarter of his customers now pay using contactless cards, he says.
“You’re selling the magazines quicker because you’ve got a card reader,” he adds. “It gives you
more energy because you’ve got more time, because you finish earlier. But you don’t realise that
at the time. You don’t realise it’s helping as much as you think.”
The cashless society is not just biting into the livelihoods of vendors like Doe, it
fundamentally threatens the way many charities go about fundraising. Barclaycard maintains
these charities will lose close to £80m in potential donations if they continue to rely on cash.
For those institutions supporting the homeless the message is clear. Prevaricate, and charities
might struggle to collect enough money to meet their needs. Adapt to the new vogue for cashless
payments and they could tap into a vast wellspring of potential donations.
It was this latter prospect that intrigued the Rough Sleeping Partnership (RSP), an alliance of
four charities tackling street homelessness in Bristol. “We needed to create a modern
fundraising solution to keep the night shelters open,” says Kathryn Lacy, a regional funding
manager for St Mungo’s.
RSP’s solution was to trial two contactless donation stations in the local shopping district. Come
rain or shine, the terminals would receive donations of £2 and provide information about
Streetlink, an outreach programme for rough sleepers.
“From May to November the terminals raised, on average, £370 each a month,” explains Lacy.
“That’s considerably more than a small cash collection tin would have been able to do.”
More and more homeless charities across Europe are finding ways of using contactless
payments to directly support individuals. Last year, ad agency N=5 grabbed headlines with its
trial of the Helping Heart contactless jacket, which allows passers-by to donate €1 by tapping a
card reader on the chest of the homeless person’s coat. The money can only be spent on
products nominated in liaison with the individual’s local shelter. (542 words)
















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 Document 4 :
West and Northern Europe

North America

Oceania

The New York Times, 14 Nov 2017




Countries
which are a part of the North part of the world in term of economy, richest and developed countries
The ones who are getting richer and richer tend to use more and more non cash payment.


How close are we to becoming a cashless society?

Cashless Society and the End of Freedom

• Advantages of cashless society :
- faster, easelife
- no contamination current society everything is becoming more and more digital
ex: LifPay, Paypal , raise money for something (Change.org)
• Can lead to the exclusion of a non negligible part of the population
• This part of the population might become more nd poor and face several difficulties, social ones plus to economic
difficulties
• dependence of society, people
• hacks cybercriminality
ex: minors, elders, people without income

Conclusion : Yes a cashless society is possible but non desirable